A Crusade of Her Own
by DodgerMcClure
Summary: After dealing with preppies in a game of dodgeball, Dodger ends up injured and falls asleep to reading Robin Hood. Will Robin, Marian and Will(all who look like people she knows) help her realize it's what's inside that counts?
1. Meeting Dodger

A/N: Hey all. This is my first crossover story so I hope it works. The two different movies are of course Robin Hood Prince of Thieves and the other one is The Newsies. The only characters that I personally own are Dodger, Spike, Gus and Dodger's mom, Kitten. Ice belongs to my good friend Ice Renegade whom I must say..POST SOME STORIES! Stress and Frenchy belong to those two people. I know I should have asked before hand if I could use your names in this story, but I wasn't sure how to contact you. If you don't like the fact that I use you, please email me and let me know.  
  
I don't own any of the Newsies or the Robin Hood characters, but don't worry; those ones will come into play later on in the story. Pebbles and Elf are somewhat my own creation but they are derived from two of my close friends at school. Well, I think that's all the disclaimer.. Oh ya, there's the whole music thing. I don't own Come On Feel The Noise, Heartbreaker or Wanted Dead or Alive. Those all belong to Quiet Riot, Pat Benetar and Bon Jovi.  
  
Crusade of Her Own  
  
Chapter One  
  
Cast List  
  
Dodger-----Herself  
  
Specs-----Will Scarlet  
  
Ice-----Maid Marian  
  
Spot-----Robin Hood  
  
Jack-----Little John  
  
Stress-----Fanny  
  
Frenchy-----Sarah  
  
Kid Blink-----Bull  
  
Mush-----Much  
  
Kloppman-----King Richard  
  
Boots-----Azeem  
  
Les-----Wulf  
  
Pebbles-----Leighanne  
  
Elf-----Jade  
  
Spike-----Hawk  
  
David-----David (Chef)  
  
Mr. Pulitzer (History Teacher)-----Lord Joseph of Pulitzer  
  
Man, does life suck. First it starts with my parents going on about how I dress and act. Okay, so maybe I prefer to dress in black from my nail polish to my hiking boots and act with a real attitude, but that should be my choice and not theirs. I've dressed the whole, 'gothic' way ever since I reached middle school and was earning my own cash. My wanting to dress like an individual shouldn't cause my parents to go into hysteria. They shouldn't be trying to drown out my individuality with the stereotypes that they grew up with in the 1960s.  
  
Let me first begin with my mother. If you can picture Mrs. Cleaver, Mrs. Cunningham and Mrs. Brady and how they acted in the television series they stared in, well you can pretty much bet that that's my mom. Her pre-teen and teen years were spent of her being drilled that the only place for women were either in homes or as schoolteachers by my grandmother. She has tried to impress that unto me, her only child but has yet to work.  
  
My dream isn't to make a man happy or to teach little kids, but to write and reach out to people of all kinds. Kitten, as my father likes to call her, has tried to get me to dress the way she thinks girls should dress; in long dark skirts, pale colored shirts and saddle shoes. Yuck! Whenever she buys me those clothes, I go right back to the department store. We exchange them for either clothes that I like or cash. They cashiers have pretty much gotten used to it. When I do trade in for cash, the cash goes towards getting myself away from home.  
  
Next parent: my dad. I must say that like my mom, he's a stereotype version of an overprotective dad and I must say, he's extremely overprotective. He has set my curfew to be at 8:00pm at night the entire week, but unbeknownst to him I have snuck out of the house tons of times to meet up with my best friends Gus and Spike. Those two have several reasons as to why my dad doesn't like them.  
  
They are both guys. My dad doesn't believe that girls should be friends or even associate with guys unless they are family friends, family or the two of you are dating.  
  
Those two were pretty much the ones who started my nickname Dodger. I got it one night from them and after that, it stuck. Guys and girls would try to get into fights with me around town and I always seemed to get out of it without any bruises.  
  
Both aren't "proper" gentlemen to my dad. Spike is the punk person out of our group of friends. He's also a really good guitarist and skateboarder. He was able to do a 360 grind by the age of 10 or so he tells me. Gus is our ever-loving art freak. He can take anything and put a picture to it. He's always got his sketchbook with him like I have my own writer's book.  
  
Oh onto their nicknames. Spike got his from the way his hair looks. He always has it poking up every which way. Gus is short for August and he hates that he's named after a month. My dad thinks that nicknames should only be for guys on sport teams or married couples. Dad calls mom Kitten for some reason and my mom call him Racetrack or Race. I've seen pictures of him from his high school days; he was a track star.  
  
Another reason as to why my life sucks is also my beloved parents. My hometown is Aspen. I've always lived there, was born in the local hospital. I've gone through countless ski seasons where people from all over the globe come for the slopes. The farthest we've gotten is Germany. Well, that's by my count anyways. I've worked there for the past 5 years since I turned 14. I don't know if they've gotten people from farther places before I worked there. Well anyways, my parents have gotten sick (about time) of who I choose to be so I'm moving to a place called Sherwood to live with my Great Aunt Medda Larkson on my mom's side. Yes, I did say I. My parents have figured that having a different adult in my life for the rest of my final year will help change my ways. As I loaded my things onto the airplane, my dad told me that all this was for my own good. That I would be ready for when the real world takes me in from the prison I'm in.  
  
So, here I am. Two days later and sitting in my new schools principal's office waiting room. Surprisingly, my Aunt Medda is a pretty cool person from what I've seen the past two days. For most things, she's not stuck in the 1950s time warp that my parents are. She's down to earth and doesn't dress like Mrs. Cleaver. In her house, she gave me a room on the second floor that looks out over Central Park. When Aunt Medda showed me the room, she said that she hoped it fueled my writing juices. An adult who is encouraging my writing..go figures.  
  
There are just two things that she's somewhat picky about, a) my music and b) when I eat dinner. About a. I love music from Poison, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Michelle Branch and Savage Gardens. My Aunt Medda doesn't mind me listening to the stuff, just so long as it isn't so loud that she can hear it down the hallway. Onto food. She stated that I must eat my dinner before 6pm. This was because she works till 5 and is only giving me an hour's time to decide on what I want to eat. She literally padlocks the refrigerator and cupboards so I can't get in. She is my mom's aunt though so she's gotta be weird in one way or another. If I don't eat before 6, I either have to go out to eat or wait until morning for breakfast.  
  
Another great thing about my Aunt Medda is that she knows girls can have friends that are guys. Why couldn't she have been living in Aspen and convince my parents that? She also doesn't care about the way I dress and so lets me wear whatever I want! My closet has not one piece of pink or purple in it finally. I've got white shirts and some really dark blue ones. Aunt Medda even likes the way I've done my hair. She says that the red highlights bring out the color in my skin. (Oh ya should have mentioned my hairstyle. It's cut just above my neck and is a really dark brown with intense red highlights.) I know I'm definitely related to her though. We both have really green eyes.  
  
Anyways, now that I'm done explaining my Aunt Medda, I'll get back to why I'm in the principal's waiting room. This morning, I walked in at 8am, hoping to be able to get to my first period class. Today's lovely ensemble was pair of black faded jeans that I had cut off just below the knees and my favorite pair of black hiking boots that I must say is so comfortable. My shirt is black and had the original sleeves cut off. I then took a pair of kid's costume pirate pants and cut them in half and then sewed them on as sleeves. (A/N: I actually have a shirt that I did that to.) The shirt looks pretty neat when I put it on. Lastly, there is my trench coat. Oh my lovely black leather trench coat that my mom actually tried to stop me from packing. I don't go anywhere with out it. I wear it everywhere I go, even to classes.  
  
When I entered this morning, the secretary's jaw fell onto the floor. Okay, so maybe it didn't, but if she were a cartoon it would have. My guess is she's not used to people of my clothing taste coming into the office so early in the morning. The reason why I think this is that when I did walk in, besides her jaw figuratively hitting the floor, she watched me with a very keen eye. She looked like a goldfish with her mouth open and looking at me over her glasses. She didn't realize what she had been doing until I glared at her. With a swift movement, she closed her eyes, pushed her glasses back up and went back to her typing.  
  
From the depths of my trench coat, I pulled out my ever-loving CD player. This was another object that came everywhere with me. Now I don't listen to it during class, I'm not that inconsiderate. I also have a supply of CDs for the different moods I'm in. Slow mixes, Rock mixes even clubs mixes take residence in my little black case. When I got comfortable, I one of my Bon Jovi mixes in and pushed play. The first song was "Wanted Dead or Alive."  
  
That's where I am now. Two hours later and I'm still sitting in the waiting room. I've gone through my Bon Jovi CD and have changed over to my Rock mix. I've strummed my fingers against the arms and have been getting looks from the secretary every five minutes. Several people have come into the room to get notices from mailboxes or to use the photocopier.  
  
Pat Benetar's "Heartbreaker" comes on and in walks a girl that reminds me of my mom in her high school yearbooks. The Capri pants were denim, and her black tank top had the word 'Angel' written across the chest in silver. She had brown hair that was a light color and from the looks of it was pulled into a high ponytail. Every now and then, I caught sight of her looking at me from the photocopier. She would gaze at my boots, up my cut off pants and to my hair. I was very tempted to say, 'What? Never seen a Goth before?' That would have gotten under her skin.  
  
After about 10minutes of her copying, she finally finished and said good- bye to the secretary with a smile that filled her heart-shaped face. She gave me one last look over as I sat in the chair and I just gave her a smirk. She tossed her hair and left down the hallway, her shoes making faint noises as they went down the hall. Going back to my CD, Quiet Riot's 'Come On Feel The Noise' comes on over the headphones. I start beating my fingers on the arms of the chairs to the beat and tapping my toe. The secretary gave me another odd look over her glasses, but I just ignored it.  
  
"Miss? Miss?"  
  
Pulling my headphones down, I saw that the secretary was standing in front of my chair.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"The principal will see you now."  
  
Looking to the door that she was pointing to, I saw a somewhat elderly man standing with a warm smile. 'Oh great, some guy that wants to be my buddy.' Turning off my Walkman, I packed it into my bad and stood up. The secretary scattered away a little when I stood, scared of what I might do or say. I slung my bag over my shoulder and followed Mr. Hurst into his office. 


	2. Meeting the Preps

Chapter Two  
  
Following Mr. Hurst into his office, I could see he spent more time and money on his own surroundings than that of his waiting room. My guess is that he's trying to impress any important people that might come in. Everything inside was very plush and expensive looking from his chair to the mini bar behind his desk. The chairs in front of the desk looked like they could sink a ship. The black leather looked like a forbidden black hole just waiting to be entered but hopefully not by me. The walls were covered with pictures of the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, The Great Wall of China and other exotic or famous places around the world.  
  
As I sat down in front of Mr. Hurst, my earlier thoughts were right. I slowly started to sink down in the chair like the Titanic did in the Atlantic. I quickly shifted my weight and pulled myself up so that I sat on the edge of the chair. I watched as he opened a folder that lay on his desk and looked over it for several minutes. When he finished, he looked up at me and smiled, clasping his hands in front of him on the desk.  
  
"Well Miss McClure,"  
  
"Please call me Dodger. I only respond to my last name if I'm in trouble. Do you think that I could have my name changed to Dodger McClure on the attendance sheet?"  
  
"I can't see why not. (BUZZ) Miss Jacobs? Please change Miss McClure's first name to Dodger on all attendance sheets."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
Mr. Hurst turned his attention back to me.  
  
"Well Dodger, since you have a nickname I and the staff of Sherwood High will be sure to use it. We like to encourage others to be called the way they feel is best. Having you here will be a wonderful contribution to the student body."  
  
As he said that part, I could just hear the struggle with the words.  
  
"Now looking over your transcripts.."  
  
Yada, yada, yada. Mr. Hurst droned on and on about my academic achievements, the different groups I had been apart of (though I was Gothic, I was still part of the newspaper.) and what groups there was at school. I think I caught some words about a writing group of some kind besides the newspaper. Maybe I'll go for that when I'm ready. Looking up at the Felix clock behind Mr. Hurst, I saw that it was getting close to lunch time and my stomach was about to growl for food.  
  
Pulling open a drawer beside him, Mr. Hurst pulled out several papers.  
  
"Here is your new schedule, some sheets you will need to get signed and a map of the school. If you aren't able to find your way around, just ask one of the students. They will surely help you with guiding you. Good luck."  
  
With that, he turned his chair to me indicating that I could leave. I grabbed the papers on the desk and get up from my seat. Rather than waiting for the words to dismiss me, I take it upon myself to do so. Exiting into the waiting room, I smirk as I leave the area, catching sight of the secretary looking at me over her glasses once again. Outside, I gave a laugh, knowing I had caught another person off guard with my appearance.  
  
Gazing at the map, I noticed that my locker wasn't too far around the corner. With my head down, I didn't realize until it was too late that someone else was coming around. We smacked into each other and I ended up dropping my papers to the ground, including my folder that I had accidentally grabbed.  
  
"Sorry."  
  
We both said at the same time as we went down to collect the papers. The other person and I ended up bumping heads.  
  
"Ouch!"  
  
"Sorry about that. I should have been watching where I was going. Here's your map."  
  
Taking the map from the person I straightened up and stuffed all the papers into my jacket pocket. Looking at the person, I realized for the first time that it was a guy wearing glasses and a bowler cap. Behind the dark framed glasses were a pair of chocolate brown eyes that looked familiar somehow.  
  
"Uh thanks."  
  
"No problem. Listen, my name's James."  
  
He stuck his hand out, waiting for me to grab hold of it. I took hold of it. His hands weren't overly soft, but not callused either.  
  
"Nice to meet ya. I gotta go."  
  
With that I walked away, leaving James dazed and confused. I don't like giving out my first name and the only way someone will find out my real first name is when I absolutely trust them. After a few days, most people figure out that my nickname is Dodger. Teachers always give me weird looks when they read the attendance sheet but I'm glad. Look at me and think I'm weird, then I'm probably a freak and I'm proud of it.  
  
I finally arrive to my locker, which happened to be around another corner. I had been looking at the map upside down. Spinning the dial, I didn't even look to see if the numbers were right. I just took a wild guess and I was right. I threw my bag inside and the only things that didn't go in were my Rock Mix CD, CD player and writing book. Those items stayed with me always in the pockets of my trench coat. Closing my locker, I leaned against it and pulled out the papers that I had stuffed into my pocket. Shuffling the papers until I got to my schedule, I read it over and saw classes that I liked.  
  
"Not bad, not bad at all. Spare first period which means I get to sleep in. Yes! American Literature during second period, third period is drama and then lunch. Okay, my fourth period is Advanced English, fifth is math class and lastly World History. At least my day ends off on a good note."  
  
Pulling the map from my pocket, I straightened it out and found that if I retraced my steps to where I had bumped into that James guy, I'd find the cafeteria. From my pocket I pulled out an old chain that had a new pocket watch on the end. It read that the third period classes would end soon. Putting the papers and watch back into my pockets I walked down the hallways and arrived at the Cafeteria doors. Just as I reached them, the bell rang and the halls filled with warm bodies.  
  
I slipped in and around the door, watching as everyone waltzed into the cafeteria. From the wall I stood at, I watched as people lined up to get their food or scramble for one of the many tables; a time-honoured tradition. From where I stood, I could see that in the middle of the entire cafeteria, there were two tables that hadn't been touched by a single soul. Just as my thought finished, I caught sight of preps walking towards those tables.  
  
"Figures."  
  
The same seating arrangement had been at my old school, though I hadn't sat in the cafeteria all that much during my years. Since I hadn't packed my regular lunch of peanut butter and jam sandwich with Dr. Pepper, I lined up with the others, receiving strange glances from those who were in front and behind me. I grabbed a tray and as we moved along, I looked over the food selections and in the end, picked up a Dr. Pepper, a Crispy Crunch chocolate bar and a bag of potato chips. I had to fish through my pockets to find the right amount of change for the food and once I paid the food lady, I surveyed the room for a free table so that I wouldn't bother any one.  
  
Before heading to the table I found near the back door of the cafeteria I took the food and stashed it in the pockets so I wouldn't have to deal with the tray afterwards. Making my way over, I overheard whispers about me. Like, why was I eating indoors and not out with the others? When had I transferred here? Stuff along that line. Arriving at the table, I pulled the food, my CD player and writing book out and set them around me. I slipped the headphones on and pushed play on the Walkman. "Bed of Roses" by Bon Jovi came on over the pieces and started up my 'chicken scratch' as Spike had so fondly called my writing. As I wrote, I soon had the light being blocked by several shadowed figures.  
  
Looking up, I noticed that there were three guys and a girl. I recognized the girl from this morning and hanging around her side was a boy that looked to be a couple inches taller than her. Seeing them together makes me figure that they're dating. The tallest guy, to the left of the couple, wore a bandana around his neck and a cowboy hat on his head. To the right of the couple was James. The girl pointed to my headphones, indicating that she wanted to talk to me. I slipped them off to the back of my neck and looked up at them smiling.  
  
"Greetings and Salutations."  
  
I've always wanted to say that, ever since I saw the movie 'Heathers' starring Christian Slater and Wyona Rider. The groups of preps looked down at me and at each other in confusion. My guess, they've either never heard the phrase or seen the movie before. We'd all been silent for sometime, taking in each other's small movements. I was about to put my headphones back on when the girl spoke up once again.  
  
"You're new right?"  
  
I starred at them in slight disbelief. Did she just ask me if I was new?  
  
"Uh, no. I've been hiding in the basement for the past 3 years and decided now would be a great time to experience upper high school floors."  
  
All the preps got eerie looks on their faces, not sure what to make of me. Oh man, I couldn't stand it anymore.  
  
"Oh, man. Yeah, I'm new."  
  
That seemed to satisfy them. Relieved looks came to their faces and they all let out sighs of relief. As usual the girl spoke up.  
  
"Oh, well as school president I'd like to welcome you to the school. I'm known as Ice and this is my boy friend Spot."  
  
Spot and Ice? What kind of names are those? They sound like a dog and cat.  
  
"This is Jack or as we like to call him Cowboy because of his bandana and love for the west."  
  
Okay, so the name made some sense now that she explained his. but theirs still made no sense.  
  
"I'm named after my eyes and Spot here is named after his initials. Simon Patrick Oliver Tate."  
  
I had to bite my lips. What a large name for a short kid.  
  
"Finally, this is,"  
  
"We've actually met. James right?"  
  
He nodded but Ice scowled. Spot this time spoke up.  
  
"We actually like to call him Specs because of his glasses."  
  
Specs? Not bad name. I looked at them and from the looks on their faces, it looked as though they expected me to tell them mine. Well that's not going to happen. There had to be a reason as to why they were still there after so long.  
  
"Your point for being here is??? I don't think all of you would come over here to welcome little ol' me?"  
  
I said with a southern twang. This time, rather than Spot or Ice, Specs was the one to speak up. His bangs kind of fell in front of his bangs and with a swift movement, had them up under the bowler hat.  
  
"Well, it was more my idea to come and welcome you. We were wondering why exactly you are in the cafeteria and not out with the other goths? The way you dress like that but stay in here."  
  
Specs friends nodded in agreement.  
  
"Yeah, most goths that I know wander outside until the bell rings. Even then they don't come in for another 5, 10 minutes."  
  
Jack added, switching his weight to his other foot. I pushed myself up from the table and stood my full 5'6" height. Even at that height, I was still shorter than the three guys.  
  
"Are your skulls thick naturally or does all the hairspray and gel block the words that are coming out of my mouth? I told you that I'm new here. I don't know anyone here because this is my FIRST day here. When someone's new, normally they don't know anyone. The only reason I came in here in the first place was to eat and scope out the place. Now, if you don't mind."  
  
I sat back down and put my headphones back on and turned the music up so that it drowned out everything or anything that the preps were saying. Soon the shadows faded to nonexistent and I was left alone to my writing.  
  
A/N: Well, there's chapter two so far. I'd like to thank Lucky for her review in the Newsies section and to byrdgirl in the Robin Hood section. I appreciate your reviews a lot. I don't own any of the 'preps' or Mr. Hurst or Mrs. Jacobs. Those belong to Disney and to Ice Renegade.  
  
Lucky: Thanks a lot for your review. I hope to have you as a regular. You get a cut out of your favourite Newsie. Hausta!  
  
Byrdgirl: Robin Hood will come in later on. Writing past tense and what people are thinking is hard, but I'll keep on working on it. Thanks again. Hausta!  
  
Well, I hope you all like this chapter and please review it. Thanks. Bye! 


	3. New Friends

A/N: Hey all! Thanks to those who have reviewed so far. I really appreciate it. I'd like to say that I don't own any of the Newsies mentioned except for Dodger and Mike. Elf belongs to my friend Elf, Frenchy to my new friend Frenchy and Ice to of course, Ice. Most of the teachers belong to Disney except for the drama teacher. She's my own creation. Any musical songs in this that is mentioned belongs to the artist that is put beside them. Oh ya, Gus and Spike are mine, all mine. (Laughs like evil doctor until starts coughing)  
  
Okay, I'm better. Now onto the thanks.  
  
Lulu Bell: Thanks for the review. Find the movie. It's great.  
  
Boogalaga: I've got Elf and Frenchy and Mike as regulars. I may have mentioned that they look like punks, but they're pretty regular people. She meets Robin Hood and the others in two maybe three chapters. Don't worry. Most of the story is actually placed in Sherwood, Robin Hood time. Oh ya, thanks for the idea to have her dress in pink. I know exactly where to put that in the story.  
  
Chapter Three  
  
Even though they had left my table, I could feel their eyes boring into my head. I couldn't' take it anymore. Sure I was used to the stares, but normally they stopped after a few minutes when people got tired. Finishing off what I had started in my book, I put my chips into my pocket and got up from my seat. I walked over to the trashcan and threw the bottle and wrapper into the garbage before heading out the doors and into the hallway. As I walked down to my locker, I noticed a couple leaning against it in each other's arms.  
  
"Oh great."  
  
As I got closer, I saw that they didn't fit the prep persona I had already witnessed today. They were dressed slightly grungy with baggy pants and while the girl wore a spaghetti strap army top, the guy wore a dark blue Skate Shop shirt. The girl really reminded me of Gus, not only in clothing, but a little in looks. They both had the same dark skin and hair colour. Seeing the girl they were talking to, she would have made a perfect match for Spike. Her hair wasn't very short, but enough that the back could be spiked up a little. Arriving at my locker, I realized that they hadn't seen me come up.  
  
"Excuse me, you're on my locker."  
  
The three of them looked my way and sized me up, looking from my face to boots and back up to my face. They stepped to the side and spinning the lock, opened my locker top, putting the chips on the top shelf while reaching into my bag for a folder on the bottom shelf. (A/N: They are half lockers but top and bottom go to each student.) From the folder, I pulled out a group photo of Spike, Gus and I that my boss had taken of us before I moved. I also pulled out a picture of me that Gus had drawn of me a month ago. I was sitting in the hallway working in my book, hair tucked behind my ear, no trench on for once.  
  
"That is a great drawing. It's got the same technique as the one Elf's done. Elf, show her the picture you did of Mike."  
  
I turned around to have the one I compared to Spike looking over my shoulder and the one she called Elf opening up her own locker. She reached in and pulled out a sketchbook that had magazine pictures glued to the front. Elf flipped a few pages until she got to the one picture she was looking for and held it up. Low and behold, there was the picture of the boy with us in the same technique.  
  
"Nice. My friend Gus did this before I moved out here."  
  
Elf looked at me in small surprise.  
  
"Really? Cool. I have a cousin named Gus that is an artist too. He's the reason I started to draw. Last I heard from him was that his best friend was lost to the worst thing ever,"  
  
At the same time Elf, the punk and I said,  
  
"Parents."  
  
We stared at each other in shock. How could it be that we all said the same thing? Gus was the only person I ever knew to say that. I looked at Elf.  
  
"Is Gus his nickname?"  
  
"Yeah. His real name is August Standish the III, but he hates being called that. Why?  
  
A smile creeps to my face and I laugh a little.  
  
"Would this happen to be him?"  
  
From where I grabbed the drawing, I pulled out the group photo into view. Elf took it from my hands and gave it a good look over. Her eyes soon filled up with recognition and surprise.  
  
"You're Dodger! I should have realized it was you from the last picture Gus sent me. I think it was of you're 18th birthday. Gus's hair colour has changed since I saw him in the summer and I see Spike's hair is shorter than usual. Frenchy, this here is the infamous Dodger McClure."  
  
Infamous Dodger. Those words had a nice ring to it. Looks as though the move here does have a small perk. I looked to the punk Elf called Frenchy.  
  
"So, the name's Frenchy?"  
  
"Yup. And yours is Dodger. It's nice to finally meet the person Gus talked so much about. So how do you like our lovely institution?"  
  
Heavy accentuated on the lovely part. We all laughed knowing that the school wasn't lovely and we would rather be somewhere else.  
  
"Oh, Mr. Hurst is just great. I showed up this morning at 8 and wasn't let in till 10. He spent all the hot air he has explaining how much I will contribute to the school and that took him another 2 hours. Oh ya, I've already met the school's prep squad. Madam president and her pose."  
  
Elf, Frenchy and Mike all groaned and Elf piped up.  
  
"Ice and her group pretty much run the school. They've been brought up that prep is best, though they don't really act like it."  
  
Not act like it? They seemed to today.  
  
"Well, I think I freaked them out today in the cafeteria. Just little phrases seemed to make them very confused."  
  
I relayed to my newfound friends what had happened and they burst out laughing.  
  
"Just been in the basement for 3 years and decided now is a good time to come up? Oh man, I would of loved to see their faces."  
  
Mike choked out as he wiped a tear from his eye. Elf and Frenchy both agreed just as the bell went off. All of us groaned as we reached into our lockers for our books. I only had my binder for classes as to not having any textbooks yet.  
  
"Well, better get to class." Frenchy said from the opposite side of the hallway.  
  
"Does anyone know where," pulls schedule out of my pocket, "Advanced English is?"  
  
Mike nodded.  
  
"I've got that class. Elf and I'll show you the way since her class is next door."  
  
I nodded my thanks to him and the three of us said bye to Frenchy as she walked down to her Biology class. As the three of us walked towards my class, I got several stares. I asked Elf what time the goths normally came in from the yard.  
  
"Normally they don't come in until the class starter bell rings. Even then they come in late." She gave me a wary look. "You aren't gonna start that habit are you?"  
  
I shook my head.  
  
"Both my parents drilled it into my head that school came above everything, even hanging out with my friends. I don't mind that they did, I actually enjoy school or at least the subjects I like; always have. The only downfalls of school I find are the nagging teachers and annoying preps."  
  
Elf laughed as we stopped in front of her classroom and shook her head.  
  
"Gus told me about your parents. Tough break. Well this is my stop for the day, drafting. I'll see you guys after school?"  
  
"I've got to go home straight after to report to my aunt, but maybe tomorrow."  
  
Elf said all right and she entered her classroom as Mike and I headed into our own room. As we entered, I found that the Ice girl's boyfriend Spat or whatever it was, was also in this class.  
  
"Oh great, just what I needed to an all ready weary day."  
  
Mike gave me a soft smile and patted me on the back.  
  
"Don't worry about him or the others. C'mon, I'll introduce you to the teacher. She's a pretty okay person."  
  
Mike led me over to the teacher and she was pretty nice. She was kind enough to sit me beside Mike. He gave me the notes I had missed from the beginning of the unit and the class began. Just as soon as the class had begun, it ended. I packed up the two books that the teacher had given me, and also my notebook. I left the classroom with Mike only to part ways as he headed for his Phys. Ed class. I was lucky. My Math class wasn't that far though I wish it were half way across the world. Numbers don't exactly bring joy and happiness to my life like my writing does. I think when my parents signed me up for the course; they decided that I needed something more stable than English and History.  
  
Being new does have its advantage though. Near the end of the class after Mr. Denton, who I must say is so boring and actually wears these weird colour bowties, gave out homework I asked if I could be dismissed early to check out where my next class was. He gave me a wry look before letting me go, probably thinking that I would use the 15minutes to go out and have a smoke. I gathered my books up and quickly left the room. I wandered the halls. I didn't really need to be let out early. The History room was on the first floor with my other classes.  
  
Going down the hallway was like walking through some kind of sport hall of fame. On one of the basketball pictures where the boys had shorts that were very short, the pennant that the boys in the centre held up read 1945. They all looked like replicas of my dad. I pushed my body past them so I wouldn't remember the reason why I was at the school in the first place. By the time I reached the History room, I still had 10 minutes before the bell and other students were allowed out.  
  
I leaned down against the wall outside the door and pulled out my Math homework. If I could finish it now, I wouldn't have to take it home to work on. I struggled at first but soon made my way through them, only to have the last question finished as the bell rung. I got up before the crowd spilled into the hallways so that I wouldn't be trampled on. All the students rushed out of the near-by classrooms like there was a disease ridden within and to run was their only escape. I waited till the last student had left the doorway before entering and groaning. Sitting at the back of the room was James or as he liked to be called Specs.  
  
"Oh boy, not another one."  
  
I walked over to the teacher, Mr. Pulitzer and luckily for me, he decided to assign me to the seat in front of Specs. Not wanting to have an argument on my first day, I gritted my teeth and walked to my new seat and sat down. Rather than do nothing and have the unfortunate chance to talk to Specs, I pulled my Walkman from my pocket and put 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' by Def Leppard on. I tapped my foot to the music as I watched the other students milled into the class and take their regulated seats. The last student to slide in before the bell rang was Frenchy. I made a mental note to ask Mr. Pulitzer if I could move to a seat by her. I heard the faint sound of the bell ring and removed my headphones and tucked the Walkman back into my pocket.  
  
Mr. Pulitzer, like my other teachers, didn't bother to introduce me to the rest of the class. He just started up with his lesson. As he droned on, I ended up tuning him out. I had covered all this stuff two weeks ago. All I would have to do is bring my notebook from my old school and save the new one for writing. Pulling my own writing book out of my pocket, I started on a story idea but my concentration was disturbed by a click of a door. I turned my gaze to the door to see Ice slide into her seat, which was conveniently paced by the door.  
  
I know there is some unwritten law about not ratting on fellow students but Mr. Pulitzer didn't see her slide in and she's 30minutes late. I started to raise my hand to let the teacher know a 'stray' had entered the classroom when I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. I turned around to see Specs giving me a warning look. His brown eyes gave a stormy look of warning. Besides the scowl and stormy eyes, I noticed the other features of his face. The glasses framed his face very nicely and were set off by his brown hair mixed with dirty blonde. I'm not sure if it was a dye job or if that truly was his hair colour. When he had the hat on earlier, I couldn't see exactly how long the hair was. Now, I could see that it ended just below his neck. It was brushed back, kind of in a wavy look.  
  
I racked my brain, trying to figure out why he looked so familiar. Trying to think of from where I had seen that wry look of warning and similar looks. Then it clicked. Christian Slater when he had been in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. Clearing my mind of whom he looked like, I focused back to the scowl on his face and gave him a questioning look.  
  
"I wouldn't stay like that if I were you. Scientific research has proven that your face will stay in a permanent scowl if you look at me like that any longer."  
  
"Well I wouldn't be scowling if I didn't know that you were about to enter the lioness's den."  
  
Now that I think about it, his voice even sounds like Christian Slater's. There was a hint of roughness within it.  
  
"Well, don't worry about me. I can handle myself."  
  
He released his hold on my shoulder.  
  
"Don't say I didn't warn you."  
  
I rolled my eyes and turned around in my seat, just to have Mr. Pulitzer take notice of Specs' and my little chat.  
  
"Young lady, is there a problem?"  
  
"Well, actually, there was something I."  
  
As I said this, I took a quick glance at Ice. I guess Mr. Pulitzer caught the movement because he too caught sight of her.  
  
"One moment miss. Miss Monroe. It's nice of you to finally join our little history community. I don't want to hear any of your excuses. This is the fifth time in the past two weeks. Detention after school."  
  
Mr. Pulitzer turned his attention back to me.  
  
"Now, what was it that you wanted to ask me?"  
  
"I uh, was just wondering if you had an extra textbook. I seemed to have left mine at home."  
  
Mr. Pulitzer pulled a textbook from behind his desk and carried to my desk. I took it and smiled. As he walked back and started writing on the board again, I saw Ice give me a hard stare. I did something that I guess she didn't expect I smiled. I then mouth, 'No crime, no time.' The rest of the class went by very quickly. I answered several questions that had Pulitzer surprised that someone actually knew what the answers were. When the final bell rang, I put my books into my pockets and pulled my headphones from my pockets. Placing them on my ears, I pushed play and got up from the desk, moving out towards the door. Frenchy had already left so I wouldn't be able to catch up with her.  
  
Getting closer to the door, I passed Ice's desk just as she stuck her foot out to trip me. I was lucky though; I caught sight of the movement she made in the nick of time. My instincts told me to jump and I did. Not even looking back, I headed off down the hallway. I ended up staying after school so that I could talk to my morning teachers and find out if I had any homework that I might be able to do. Talking to my Drama teach Mrs. Pereira, I found that she was really cool. In fact, said she might have a job for me in the school play as a prop creator. Meeting Mr. Kloppman was great. He told me we were covering Mark Twain and Louisa May Alcott. When he handed me the books, he gave me a warm, friendly smile.  
  
"At least there's one great teacher."  
  
I said to myself as I walked down to the parking lot. The detention bell had long since rang so my footsteps were the only life to a dead hallway. Walking out into the bright sun blinded me a bit, but no more then the next scene I saw. Where my mode of transportation was, a group of people were standing around it. For my sixteenth birthday, my parents actually complied with giving me what I wanted, a motorcycle. At first they objected to it, but when I said that they were all the rage in the 50s, they couldn't deny it. How it's known that guys name their cars, I did the same with my bike naming it after my favourite actor, Christian Slater.  
  
I gritted my teeth and walked towards them. As I neared, I saw that there was a kid with a patch sitting on Slater and making some kind of motor sounds. The sight was truly pathetic. I got to the outside of the group, only to have the people not realize I was there.  
  
"Do you mind getting off my bike so that I can go home?"  
  
Everyone turned to look at me. As things turned out, the group was a bunch of preps and their leader was Ice. She was standing off to the side with her boy toy Spot hanging beside her and Jack to the other side. Spot looked me over then at the bike and finally back to me.  
  
"This is your bike?"  
  
I nodded and all he did was laugh.  
  
"Yeah right. Someone like you I very much doubt could own one of these."  
  
I gave him a cold glare before shifting my bag on my shoulder and giving a retort.  
  
"I'll prove that this is mine if the dingbat over there will get off."  
  
The kid I had just insulted looked at me as if I hadn't even asked him to get off. He sat up and looked at me.  
  
"The name's not Dingbat, it's Kid Blink." Like I cared.  
  
"Just get off."  
  
He looked to Spot who nodded in agreement. Kid Blink shrugged his shoulders, shook his head and got of Slater slowly. I then made my way over and strapped my bag onto the carrying rack. Once the bag was secure, I got on and pulled a key from under my shirt, putting it into the ignition. Deathly silence was filled with the sound of the engine.  
  
"Is that enough proof?"  
  
Before anyone could answer, I pulled the bike out of park and drove out of the parking lot leaving the airheads in the dust. Driving home was the only thought on my mind. The plan was that when I got home, I would have my 80s rock music turned up loud until 5 o'clock when Aunt Medda got home from work at the diner. I would relax with a can of Dr. Pepper and work on either letters to Gus and Spike or on a story.  
  
Not even halfway home, my bike had other plans for me. I looked to the gas gauge to see that the tank was empty. I steered Slater to the side of the road before it went completely caput. I pulled the key out of ignition and placed it back around my neck. Removing myself from my bike, I put my headphones on and started the music up. There was no sense pushing the bike home without some good tunes.  
  
"Looks like I won't get any free time tonight."  
  
I mumbled to myself as I trudged along the side of the road. I was about 3 blocks from the place Slater had decided to call it quits when just as I passed a giant puddle from the rainstorm the previous day, a car sped by. Water sprayed up from under the tire and ended up splashing all over my coat. I could hear laughter echo from the car, as it turned left and disappeared from sight.  
  
"Probably Madam Ice's car."  
  
I stopped pushing the bike and tried wiping away the water beads on my trench. There wasn't any use though, there was mud clinging to it as well so I wouldn't be able to treat it properly until I got back to Aunt Medda's. Pushing the trench material behind me, I grabbed the handlebars and start pushing the bike along the street again. 5 minutes or so later another vehicle drove past me. I didn't notice what type it was, I was too busy muttering to myself about how much the preps had annoyed me today. Getting to the 4-way-stop, I looked up to see that I was only at Delaware.  
  
"Oh just great. The way things are going, I'm not gonna get home till after 6. Why did she have to live so far away from the school?"  
  
I turned my bike right and started trudging down Delaware Street and the music on my headphones was "Is The Love?" by Whitesnake. Walking down the street, I took in the scenery of the houses and gardens. Everything was so beautiful and posh. They looked like pictures in magazines. Some had gnomes scattered in the yard while others had fountains and one even had a porcelain doll house surrounded by the garden. As I passed by the 'doll house' house, I caught sight of a 1950s truck that looked in perfect condition.  
  
"What I wouldn't give for a car that worked."  
  
A few seconds after I passed it, the engine revved up purring like a kitten.  
  
"Even sounds good."  
  
Shaking my head knowing that my own bike wouldn't sound like that until I got the gas tank filled, I started pushing Slater down the street again. As I walked, I caught sight several times of the truck rolling slowly behind me. Every time I stopped, the driver stopped the truck too. This went on for several more minutes until I couldn't stand anymore. I propped Slater against the kickstand, moved my headphones around my neck and made my way over to the driver's side of the stopped truck. The windows were tinted and as the person rolled them down, I started to yell.  
  
"Where in the frickin' world do you get to come off following me? Why don't,"  
  
But before I could finish my sentence, the window was all the way down to show the driver. Sitting in the driver's seat was Specs and there was a small smug look on his face. I groan, rolled my eyes and pushed my hand through my hair. I turned my gaze solely at him.  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
I demanded as I moved my arms across my chest. Specs leaned forward on the window ledge.  
  
"Well, I happened to see you walking down the street rather than riding your bike and thought that maybe you would need a ride. Do you?"  
  
I looked at Specs like he was psycho or something.  
  
"You're joking right? You're just distracting me so that your friends can come and take my bike away."  
  
Specs shook his head.  
  
"Nope. My friends live back the other way so they would have no reason to be in this neighbourhood."  
  
I continued to stare at Specs, not entirely sure if I should believe him or not. He gave a small laugh and pushing the door open, stepped out. He leaned against the door once he closed it.  
  
"C'mon. Do you really want to push that machine all the way to your house? You can do that or you can let me give you a ride. I'll carry you into the truck if needs be. I'm not one to leave a girl out stranded."  
  
Standing there looking at Specs, I caught a look on his face that read that what he said was true. Rather than having someone carry me against my will, I decided to go along with it. I let down my arms.  
  
"Fine, but only if you have room in your truck for my bike. I'm not leaving that machine out of my sight."  
  
"Yeah, there's room. I'll open the hitch and you go get your bike."  
  
As Specs walked around the truck, I went back to the side and pushed my bike to the back. When I got to the back of the truck, I saw that he had put a plank of wood on a slant so I could push Slater up there. Though I voiced that I didn't need help, Specs gave it anyways. With no time we had the bike up into the back and Specs strapped it down as I jumped down. I moved to the passenger door and slid in as Specs moved the plank back into the back and pushed up the hitch. The last time I had been in the passenger seat of a vehicle, was when Spike, Gus and I went downtown on New Year's Eve.  
  
Once we were both in the cab, I rolled down my window, hoisted my arm up and leaned my head down wishing that I was back home in Aspen. I waited for Specs to start the truck up, but he still hadn't pulled out of park. I lifted my head and turned to look at him to find he was staring back at me.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Seatbelt."  
  
"Oh ya."  
  
Putting a seatbelt on is still foreign to me. The only time I did was when I rode with my parents and that wasn't that often. Driving with Spike and Gus I usually didn't have a belt on. I reached up and pulled the belt over and clicked it into place. I resumed my place on the ledge as he pulled away from the curb.  
  
"So what street?"  
  
"Dawson Crescent. The second opening by Central Park."  
  
"You live that far from school? Wow. What does your house look like?"  
  
"It's the one with the blue shutters. Number 83."  
  
I hoped that was going to be the last of our speaking to each other during the ride but Specs had other plans.  
  
"So, since you're new here, where are ya from?"  
  
"Aspen."  
  
"Really? Cool. I've been there a couple of times. They've got great hills don't they?"  
  
"Wouldn't know. Don't do winter sports."  
  
Silence took over the cab as we stopped at a stoplight. I waited for Specs to ask me how I could live in Aspen and not ski or snowboard, but he didn't. It wasn't until we got through the intersection before he started talking again.  
  
"How does your family like Sherwood?"  
  
I groaned and sat up in my seat, fixing the belt.  
  
"My parents stayed in Aspen. I'm living with my Aunt Medda."  
  
From the corner of my eye, I saw that Specs jaw dropped a little.  
  
"You're aunt is Medda Larkson?"  
  
"Yeah, so?"  
  
"Well I just thought she didn't have any family. She's never mentioned any before."  
  
Okay, how exactly does he know my aunt? Heck, I've only known her for a couple of days. I guess Specs saw the confused look on my face for he answered the questions.  
  
"The gang and I hang out at the 'Soda Shop' that she works at. She's pretty cool."  
  
We turned down a street and from where we were, I could see the corner of my new house. I turned my gaze to the truck's clock and saw that it was 4:30.  
  
"At least I'll have half an hour to myself."  
  
I muttered to myself, looking out the window. Specs turned and looked at me.  
  
"Did you just say something?"  
  
I shook my head.  
  
"Just drop me and my bike here. I can walk the rest of the way."  
  
"No, I'll finish driving."  
  
Damn, a stubborn one. Specs soon pulled into my driveway and as soon as he had pulled to a stop, I unclipped my belt and jumped out of the truck. I made my way to the back and pulled down the hitch. I hoisted myself up and undid the straps over Slater, slowly moving the bike to the end. By this time, Specs had gotten out and had the plank up to ease the bike down.  
  
"Well, thanks for the ride. Bye."  
  
I pushed the bike up the driveway before he could answer me and put Slater on the kickstand before I realized I couldn't find my bag anywhere. I turned around to see if I had dropped it on the driveway, but soon found that Specs was right behind me. In his hands was my bag.  
  
"It wouldn't stay on while I was driving."  
  
I gave a small smirk and tried to take it from him, but he held it behind him out of my reach. I hate being short.  
  
"I believe that I'm at least entitled to a name for the ride I gave today."  
  
I groaned and my luck is that he wouldn't give in any time soon.  
  
"Fine. McClure."  
  
I moved around Specs quickly and grabbed my bag and headed to the front door before he could say anything else. I wasn't in the mood to talk and I wanted to listen to some music to clear my thoughts. 


	4. The Challenge and Bet

For the past month, my life has been torture. Well, not exactly torture. Since I kind of got Ice in trouble, she and her friends have been hitting me with paper airplanes, spit balls and paper balls. There were also phone calls whenever I was home alone for about a week or so. They'd call me up and either played some kind of pop music like Aqua or Brittany Spears (A/N: I have no offence to that group or person. Just needed a pop type.) or just leave it completely silent. They stopped when Aunt Medda was home sick and she answered the phone before me. She threatened that if they were to continue doing that, then they'd be banned from the diner for at least a month.  
  
At school, I sit with Elf, Frenchy and Matt at the table I had sat at the first day I was there. The teachers don't do squat when the preps attack us with the paper airplanes and spit balls. They just ignore it. Last week, they ended up taking toilet paper and silly string and covered Slater in the junk from wheel to wheel. Once I got back to the house, it took me nearly a day to clean and wax the bike. And here's the piece de resistance. Two days ago, they did their worst in my eyes anyways. I was in my Drama class and took my trench coat off so I could participate properly.  
  
When the end of the class came, I searched the entire room, from the cabinet to the desk looking for my coat. It was nowhere to be found. I went the entire day without the jacket and as it turned out, it rained. Getting home, I was drenched and ended up with a cold that has yet to go away. Hanging on my locker this morning was the jacket with a note clipped to it.  
  
McClure,  
  
Sorry about the coat. Sometimes they can act like 5-year-olds. Stress says she's sorry.  
  
Specs.  
  
I balled the paper up and threw it into my locker. I slipped the trench on and for the first time in those few days; I smiled. Sitting in Math can be really boring so today I've decided to work on some sketches. I'm not as skilful as Gus, but I hold my own. I took my notebook out and started writing Dodger in weird lettering. Unfortunately for me, Mr. Denton decided to come back where I was. As I was finishing my last touches to the one name, Mr. Denton grabbed my book.  
  
"Miss McClure or as the writing here goes, Dodger what is all this? It's not math work. It looks more like cave drawings."  
  
Hey, at least I could draw. He tries to draw something and it looks like actual chicken scratch. I straightened up in my chair. Was now or never. It seems people would just call me Miss McClure in classes, never by my nickname and now people knew the nickname. Oh well.  
  
"These 'cave drawings' as you like to call them are my signature marks. I might use one one-day for when I become an author."  
  
Taken back by my retort, Mr. Denton dropped my book onto the desk and moved back up to the front of the room, continuing with the lesson on algebra. I ignored the look coming from Spot across the room and for the last 10mins of class I doodled. When the bell rang, I moved from my seat as fast as I could but Spot stopped me at the door.  
  
"Dodger? What kind of name is that?"  
  
"I'd ask the same about Spot."  
  
I left him stunned and headed off to my last class before he could answer. When I got to the class, I found that Specs for the first time in a month, wasn't there. Taking my seat, I pulled out my materials before pulling the Walkman out. I turned it on and drummed away until the bell ran for class to start. With its last ring, Specs and Ice ran into the room and to their seats. As Specs passed my desk, he dropped a note onto my open book. Casually taking it, I unfolded it slowly and read it over.  
  
Dodger (Oh great, now he knew too),  
  
Spot just told us what your nickname was. Why didn't you tell me last month when I drove you home and asked for a name? (Oh, because I didn't want to tell him?) Anyways, the guys talked it over and they want to have a game against you; a dodge ball game. What do you say?  
  
Specs.  
  
Below his note, I scribbled down,  
  
~Fine, I'll take the challenge~. I slipped the note over my shoulder, landing it on his desk. 5mins later, I felt the paper nudge my back. I reached around and took hold, bringing it to the surface. Opening, the note asked me if I was sure, that the boys I'd be face were on the baseball team since they were 6. I scratched out what he wrote and put,  
  
~I'm sure. I know what I'm doing so just back off~.  
  
That was the last of our conversation since Mr. Pulitzer started to talk about the Russian Revolution. When the class finally ended, I picked up my books and headed for my locker. Arriving there, I found Frenchy, Elf and Matt standing around waiting. How Frenchy got there before me I'm not sure but doesn't really matter since she and the others were coming to my place for dinner. I put my books away in my locker and we headed for the parking lot. As we walked, I mentioned the challenge that had been set before me.  
  
"The preps found out my nickname and have challenged me to dodge ball."  
  
It wasn't until I got to the fence that I realized that my friends had stopped. Turning, they all looked like statues with their mouths gaped open. I guess if I had told them that in the parking lot, a car would likely hit them.  
  
"Guys, why'd you stop?"  
  
I walked back to where they stood and Elf was the first to speak.  
  
"You're telling us that 4 guys from the city and school BASEBALL team are going against you and only you?" (I nodded) "You'll be creamed! Jack's nickname on the team is Whiz since that's the sound the ball makes when he throws."  
  
"Please don't give into their antics, just forget about them. They're just full of hot air." Frenchy pleaded.  
  
I gave a laugh.  
  
"Guys, you have nothing to worry about. Back in Aspen I faced guys bigger than those, older than those 4 and we used things that weren't made out of foam."  
  
My friends gave me confused looks until I groaned and told them that if we didn't get moving, there wouldn't be any time for music loud enough to kill our ear drums. Like me, music is something none of them will pass up. We walked through the parking lot where I went to Slater while Elf, Frenchy and Matt all got into Frenchy's 1986 T-Bird.  
  
"Meet you guys at my place."  
  
I pulled out of the parking lot with the T-Bird right behind me.  
  
~*~*Next Day~*~*  
  
"Aunt Medda, do you know where my black cut offs are?" I yelled down the stairs.  
  
"Which ones?"  
  
She asked as she came to the bottom of the stairs. I appeared at the top with my hand towel drying my hair.  
  
"The ones with an outline of a silver rose down the left leg."  
  
Medda stopped drying the dish before she disappeared, only to return a few minutes later with the pants in question in hand. With a toss, she had them up the stairs.  
  
"I washed these last night since you got paint on them from painting the shed last weekend."  
  
"Thanks. These will give me luck today."  
  
I went back down the hallway only to hear my Aunt's footsteps coming up the stairs and down the hallway.  
  
"Luck with what? Do you have a test today?"  
  
I shook my head as I pulled them over a pair of boxers Gus had once given me as a joke. They had smiley faces all over them.  
  
"I'm having a dodge ball game against some kids from school."  
  
I took my hairbrush with Def Leppard etched into the handle and ran it a few times through my hair. Aunt Medda took a seat on my bed as I tucked the strands behind my ears.  
  
"Which kids?"  
  
"Some preps named Spot, Jack, Kid Blink and Mush."  
  
The look on my Aunt's face read the same as my friends. I groaned and grabbed my bag from its resting place as I left my room. I tried to get out of the house before she could say anything, but she did the opposite.  
  
"Child, you don't know what you're up against. Those boys have been on baseball teams since they were 6."  
  
"Aunt Medda, I've heard this all before from Frenchy, Elf and Matt, oh and Specs too. I faced guys older, meaner and with things deadlier than dodge balls."  
  
"Well, just be careful. I don't want to send you back to your mother with broken bones. Oh yes, and beat those braggarts. They need to be knocked down a few pegs."  
  
I stared at her in shock. Did she just tell me to beat them?  
  
"Yesterday those boys came into the soda shop and started bragging about how with their athletic ability, they'll beat you so fast your head will spin. Now, I don't mind a little bragging since I'm used to it coming from that lot, but they didn't stop. That went on for an hour until your friends went by and made a bet with them. They shut up real fast."  
  
"What was the bet? Do you know?"  
  
"No. Boots told me about the bet when he came up for an order."  
  
I looked at the hall clock and saw that I was going to be late for breakfast with the others, we all had spare first apparently, if I didn't get going. I gave Aunt Medda a quick hug and again she wished me luck with the upcoming game. Walking outside I put my bag on the back holder and pulled the key from around my neck as I sat down. I started up the bike and headed off for the coffee shop. Pulling in, I saw Frenchy's T-Bird along with Matt's tracker. I parked in between them and entered the shop. My friends were sitting off towards the back and before I joined them, I grabbed a hazelnut coffee.  
  
"Hey guys."  
  
They all waved as I sat at the table. After taking a sip of my coffee, I stared at the three of them before asking,  
  
"So what did you guys bet?"  
  
Matt spit out his drink, back into his cup luckily while the other two looked at me uneasy. None of them were sure of what to say.  
  
"Guys, I won't get mad at you. Aunt Medda told me about the bragging the preps were doing and how you guys stopped them by making some sort of bet. Now, since it concerns me..I'd like to know what you bet."  
  
The just kept staring at me. They didn't say anything. I groaned and took a gulp of the coffee, burning my throat slightly.  
  
"If one of you don't tell me, I'll find out from Boots the A.V Kid today once I get to school."  
  
That unlocked the silence coming from them. Frenchy was the first to speak.  
  
"When we heard Spot, Kid Blink, Jack and Mush all bragging to the girls of how they'd beat you, we tried to block it out but it finally got to us. We went up to them and asked them to stop. Spot was doing the most of the big- headed comments and he said that the only way to get them to shut up was some kind of bet." Elf added the next part.  
  
"How did your Aunt know? Doesn't she finish work at 5? We were there at 8."  
  
"She was called back in. I think Dutchy was sick so the supervisor asked her to come back. Anyways, I asked what kind of bet. Spot said that when you lost, you had to go in a dress that the girls of the group chose for a day, hang out with them for a week without us and go out with Specs."  
  
Every time she said part of the bet I cringed. The last bit made me spit my coffee onto the table.  
  
"WHAT! The dress and hanging out with them is much, but to go out, out on a date with one of them is going too far. I won't do it."  
  
I sat back and crossed my arms. Matt set down his mug and turned at me.  
  
"You haven't heard what these two came up with. The preps have to announce to the entire cafeteria that you, Dodger McClure are the best ball player. Secondly they have to buy all of us lunch on any day we choose. Lastly, they have to play our favourite type of music for a week over the P.A System. I know for a fact that Ice can get in there and play the music. She's the pres."  
  
Okay, so those weren't half bad things for our side of the bet. Just thinking of those preps made me more determined to beat them. Looking up on the clock behind the cashier, I saw that the second period would be starting in 20mins. I finished up my coffee in a few gulps and waited for the others. How they weren't done before me, I have no clue. Once they did finish we took our mugs to the counter.  
  
"Well, lets roll."  
  
When we got to the school, there were several girls by the gate chatting it up and as we got closer, could tell whom they were. Ice, Stress and some others that I just couldn't remember their names. As I parked Slater, Ice came up to me.  
  
"Listen, are you sure that you want to face four of the best baseball players our school has?"  
  
What was it with people warning me and always mentioning that the boys were ball players? I get the point!  
  
"Yeah I'm sure. I have a name to defend and after hearing you boy toy's bet with my friends, I'm even more determined."  
  
I looked at Ice and she gave me an innocent look.  
  
"What bet? I don't know of any bet."  
  
"It's the one where I have to wear a dress that you girls pick, eat with your or hang with you I'm not sure which and to go out with Specs. Why the hell if I loose do I have to go out with Specs?"  
  
Ice didn't answer me, she just smirked.  
  
"Oh, that bet."  
  
"Yes, THAT bet. Now if you don't mind, I'm not one who likes being late for a class."  
  
I got up off the bike and headed into the school, my friends following behind me.  
  
A/N: Oh man, I'm sorry that I didn't update sooner. I wrote the entire story in a book before putting it on the computer and ended up losing the book for a while. Now, time for disclaimers. I do not own any male Newsie or any character for that matter that is mentioned in this story. I also do not own Ice, Frenchy, Stress, Elf and eventually Pebbles. Dodger is my own creation. Robin Hood has yet to be mentioned but don't worry. It will be in two chapters.  
  
Now, tis time for the thank yous.  
  
First, to Boogalaga: My reason for why I haven't updated is up there in the author's note. Sorry once again. The pink part is comin up in the next chapter. Notice I didn't mention anything about her shirt. * winks*. It's kind of going to be like Wizard of Oz but the main story lies behind Robin Hood. Thanks for the review once again and I'll hurry up with the next chapter.  
  
Lucky: Thanks for being a regular and sorry if I didn't mention you in the last thank yous. I've got a scattered brain at times and loading this thing up at 12 at night just doesn't help either. Answer to your question, it depends on the goth. There are some who go around in the black just because they think it looks neat. Then there are others who have the dark attitudes and dark clothing to match. For those it's some kind of statement. And yes, I'm sure that I am the Dodger you're thinking of and don't worry. Revenge just takes longer to think of, especially the rhymes. Thanks for the review.  
  
Frenchy: Thanks for the review and thanks for letting me use your character. It helps a lot. I'll keep writing if hopefully everyone else keeps reviewing.  
  
Well, that's the extent of the thanks for now, but I hope more so if you see that little box in the left corner that says go, please press! I'd appreciate it. Until later, hausta! 


	5. The Game and SleepyTime

For most of the day, I kept to myself avoiding both my friends and the preps. At first my friends felt as though I was mad at them but I explained to Frenchy in between periods that it was just a ritual of mine before a match. Being by myself kind of psyched me up. When lunch came around, rather than going to my regular table, I ate my lunch behind some bushes. When I went to my afternoon classes, the preps that I hadn't had any classes with in the morning tried bugging me. Matt told them to can it or Frenchy did. If neither of them were in the class, I just ignored the taunting. History class was the worst. I listened to 'Bother' and since we had a sub, then I was able to listen to my music in peace as I worked on the text work. The entire period had Specs poking me with his pen, tapping my shoulder and kicking my chair. The poking almost made me crack but I was saved by the faint sound of the school bell. I grabbed my books and moved out of the room as fast as I could so not to talk to anyone.  
  
Arriving at my locker, I found Frenchy, Elf and Elf's older sister Pebbles waiting for me. Matt had to work so he wouldn't be there to cheer me on. Pebbles was there not only to give Elf a ride, but to cheer me on. She was an intern at the local hospital and played a mean bass.  
  
"You ready?"  
  
"Almost."  
  
From my bag, I pulled out a deep pink shirt. I heard my friends gasp a little. I laughed, knowing that was the reaction I was looking for.  
  
"You guys like?"  
  
"What the hell? I thought you hated pink?"  
  
I slipped off the black tank top I had on and slipped the pink shirt over the spaghetti strap top. I then pulled my trench over and did it up, hiding the top.  
  
"Ok, now I'm ready."  
  
I grabbed the bag from the shelf and the four of us walked out to the yard where the challenge would be. Arriving, I noticed Mr. Kloppman my American Lit teacher standing around with the boys. Seeing us arrive, the boys headed off to the girls and their friends.  
  
"Hey Mr. K"  
  
"Hello Dodger, are you ready?"  
  
"In a second. Why are you here by the way?"  
  
"I'm the coach for the baseball team along with being the American Literature teacher. I decided to come out and help ref your competition. Your friends speak highly of your skills. Maybe you could come out for the team?"  
  
Mr. Kloppman was interested in having me on the team?  
  
"Maybe. Let me just give my stuff to my friends. Then I'll be ready."  
  
With a nod from Mr. Kloppman, I went off to where my friends were standing. I handed off the trench coat to Elf and my bag to Frenchy.  
  
"Be careful. My CD player is in the left inside pocket."  
  
"You be careful too."  
  
Taking a deep breath, I started for the group that was now formed around Mr. Kloppman. The boys didn't leave this time. They stuck around.  
  
"So," rubbing my hands together and smirking at the boy's shocked expressions to the pink shirt "are we ready to start or what?"  
  
Jack was the first to recover the shocked expression to a smirk.  
  
"The question is, are you ready to lose?"  
  
The others recovered and joined in the smirking with Jack. I rolled my eyes and walked straight up to Jack.. my head barely coming to his chin.  
  
"Now Jack, why are you asking me that when you should be asking it to you and your friends? Lets just get this show on the road."  
  
Mr. Kloppman told me to go over to the left side of the chalk mark while the boys were to go to the other side. I was given one red foam soccer ball while ¾ of the boys were given the same. This arrangement wasn't new since I've faced some guys with knives instead of foam balls. Placing the ball beside me, I crouched down waiting for us to start. I learned early on that positioning like this made it easier to move if I needed to avoid the balls and set a ball down without getting hit. Looking off at my friends, they all gave me thumbs up before I looked back at Mr. Kloppman.  
  
"Both sides ready?"  
  
I nodded as the boys chorused yes.  
  
"All right. Ready..set..GO!"  
  
As soon as Mr. K said go, I whipped the ball I had at Spot's legs. He didn't see it coming until it was too late. It bounced off his legs and rolled off to the side as Mr. K yelled that Spot was out. Unlike his friends who watched his skulk off the playing area, I kept my eyes on them. Mush and Kid Blink turned around and I laughed at the red colour their faces had turned. With a big heave, Kid threw the ball he held up into the air. Lucky for me, he threw it too high since all I had to do was reach up and catch. Mush threw the ball at me just as I caught Kid's ball in my hands. The ball was aiming for my midsection and rather than moving out of the way, I brought my arms down and caught it between my elbows and abs.  
  
"You two, off the field. Good throws though boys."  
  
I took the ball from my elbows and abs and set it down beside me on the ground. I heard a few words of protest coming from the preps, but Mr. K silenced them, saying I hadn't dropped the ball, but placed it on the ground. Finally, it was just Jack and I. Both of us had two balls at our disposal. I moved the ball from hand to hand, trying to decide where to throw it and what he was about to do.  
  
"C'mon. What are you going to do?"  
  
I watched with interest as he paced back and forth, watching me stand still. I caught sight of the ball I had set down and an idea hit me. Make it look like I'm going for the ball and when he thinks I'm about to do it, throw the ball at him. I slowly started to turn my back and from the corner of my eye saw Jack move his arm up to throw.  
  
"Perfect."  
  
I spun quickly and threw the ball at him, catching him right in the stomach. Frenchy, Elf and Pebbles all ran over to me, enveloping me in a giant hug.  
  
"You did IT! You actually beat them!"  
  
"Of course. I wouldn't have it any other way."  
  
We stood there laughing over my victory as the preps walked over to us. We turned to them and Spot stuck out his hand. I took it in mine and we did a firm shake.  
  
"You won and lived up to your name. Good work."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"But can she beat me?"  
  
All of us turned to the voice and we saw Specs walking up to the group. I thought he had been with the group when I showed up since he was heading in from the parking lot. Kid Blink moved towards him and put a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Are you sure you want to do this Specs? I don't think you can handle it. I mean, she took the four of us on and we play baseball."  
  
Specs shrugged off the hand and moved so he was in front of me. I looked up and saw the chocolate brown eyes were even browner.  
  
"Its up to her if she wants to take on another challenge. Surely one is easier than four."  
  
Taking him on wouldn't be that hard. From the words Kid said, seems as though he's not on the team with the others. He set his backpack down at our feet and looked at me.  
  
"Well, what do you think? Are you up for the challenge?"  
  
"Why not? I'm always up for a challenge."  
  
I caught sight of a smirk as he turned around and took his bag over to where the preps now stood. I waited to hear protests from my friends but they had gone back to their spot and looked at me with smirks. They seem to know something I don't. I'll have to ask them afterwards. Mr. Kloppman gave Specs and I each a ball, taking the other two off the playing field. He looked from the two of us before speaking.  
  
"You two ready?"  
  
Neither of us said a word; we just nodded. I bent down into the crouching position and oddly enough, Specs went into a position that made him look like a goalie. Concentrating, I could barely hear Pebbles, Elf and Frenchy calling out encouraging words.  
  
"Forget about the voices. Keep focus on Specs."  
  
"If you two are ready, then go!"  
  
Unlike before, neither of us moved. Specs stood in a position that he'd be able to block off the ball. I wasn't gonna give up the ball that easily. Specs and I moved back and forth, keeping our eyes on one another as our two groups of friends yelled at us to get the attention. I couldn't understand the words everyone was saying; just sounded like buzzing of insects. I concentrated harder and soon I heard no noise. Having parents that are continuously nagging at me, I learned to tune them out at a young age. I caught some movement of Specs's arm moving and I took that as my chance. Whipping the ball, I aimed for his leg which was now unguarded. My ball hit his leg and a few seconds after my victory, I was hit in the upper cheek.  
  
Being hit was a shock. Not only was his aim was completely off but I had been hit! He was supposed to aim for below my waist, not my face. Having the shocked feeling come over me, I stumbled backwards, tripping over the very ball that had just hit me. Everything started to move in slow motion. As I fell back, I saw my friends, the preps; Specs and Mr. Kloppman run slowly towards me. When I connected with the ground, everything resumed and my friends were the first beside me.  
  
"DODGER!"  
  
Elf and Frenchy were the first ones to get to me. With their help, I moved into a sitting position.  
  
"Ohh man."  
  
Pebbles came over with a makeshift first aid kit, pulling a bandage out in case of a cut.  
  
"Well, there isn't any cut but you will need ice through for that bump on the back of your head and one for your eye. Seems as though it's gonna bruise. How are you feeling?"  
  
"Did I get him? And I'm fine."  
  
I asked rubbing the back of my head. Both Frenchy and Elf laughed.  
  
"That's our Dodger. Yeah, you got him in the legs just before you got hit in the head."  
  
I smiled but soon winced since it hurt too much. With the help from my friends, I got up to my feet and dusted the gravel stones and dirt from me. From several rocks, a hole was ripped in the back of my shirt.  
  
"Oh great."  
  
I muttered as we walked to where the backpacks were. Arriving back, Elf helped me put my trench back on and Pebbles handed the backpack over to me. As I got my jacket on, the preps came over while Mr. Kloppman gathered the balls up and headed indoors.  
  
"So when should Specs pick you up for the date and we settle the rest of our deal."  
  
I looked to Spot. What in the world was he thinking? I won. I beat both of them; the group of four first then Specs.  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"I said, when should."  
  
I shrugged off Elf's hand that was on my shoulder. I walked up to him as best as I could with a little stagger. I looked up Spot and glared at him, our eyes connecting dead on.  
  
"I heard what you said the first time. I'm not going out with Specs. I won, not you guys."  
  
"But you did get out and that wasn't part of our deal. It was either one of us wins, never if we both got out at any point. How about this, both sides of the deal be used. Not just our side but yours as well?"  
  
Jack spoke up.  
  
"You'll wear the dress that the girls pick out, hang out with us without your friends and go on that date with Specs while we'll announce that you're a better player with balls then the four of us, buy all of you lunch even Pebbles and play the music. How's that sound?"  
  
Anger surged throughout my body, pushing the throbbing from my bump to the back of my mind. I had won fair and square and there was no way I was going to lower myself to wearing a dress that Ice picked. It would probably be something yellow or red or heck maybe even bright pink. Hanging out with them without my friends would drive me nuts, the conversation most likely revolving around fashion and make-up. Lastly to go on a date with a prep? C'mon! Seeing the way my Dad treated my Mom, like a doormat and the preps from Aspen being nothing better, well that would just put me in a bad mood for a long time.  
  
"No. I won fair and square. I will not do the side of the bet that you guys made up."  
  
Just as I finished, a dizzy spell hit me. 'I've got to get away and think.' Before anyone could say a word and tell me to sit down, I pushed away from them to where I had parked Slater.  
  
"Dodger! Wait! You shouldn't be driving!"  
  
Was the last thing I heard before I pulled out of the parking lot. If I could just get home, I'd be able to put ice on my head and not worry about the bet or the anything else. At one of the stoplights, I looked in my mirrors to see Frenchy's T-Bird, Specs's truck and another car.  
  
"Why can't they just leave me alone?"  
  
I revved the bike and as soon as the light changed, I was off down the street. I arrived at the house several minutes before the others and heard Frenchy's T-Bird round the corner into the circle. I hopped off the bike and ran up the front steps just as the cars pulled up in front of the house. I slipped into the house, slammed the door and locked it just as they came up the stairs. I leaned against the door and slid down with my bag making a plop on the floor just as I did.  
  
"Dodger, open up. You shouldn't be by yourself after hitting your head like that. You need someone with you."  
  
The pounding on the door, made my headache that was now pulsing even worse. I pulled myself up and walked to the kitchen. I dropped my bag by the table and opened the refrigerator to find that Aunt Medda had bought some more Dr. Pepper since we had run out two nights ago. She was also one who craved the stuff. I grabbed a glass and poured the fizzy liquid in and grabbed an icepack, wrapping that in a tea towel. I stopped before heading up the stairs and listened for any pounding. Nothing.  
  
"Thank god they're gone. Now I get some peace."  
  
Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind that they're worried about me, but I've been hit worse before. I walked up the stairs to my room, feeling the pain shoot around the back of my head. Once inside, I placed the drink on the coaster on the nightstand and reached over taking my favourite book from its place and laid down with the ice pack under my head. The book I was reading was one of those that are normally put out when a movie comes out. If follows the plot line and in the centre has pictures from the movie, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.  
  
My head hurt too much to read from where I had left off the night before, so I turned to the picture pages, forgetting that I still had my shoes and my trench coat still on. I looked each over. There was one of Kevin Costner over in the Holy Crusade, him returning to England and the Sheriff of Nottingham. There were some pictures of Christian that I really liked. The main one I liked was the one of him at the water's edge, confronting Robin. Just looking at the picture, I slowly lowered my eyes falling asleep to the sight of Will Scarlet, Robin Hood and the other merry men and women, finally dropping the book against my chest.  
  
A/N: Well that's it for present time, now its Robin Time! Lol. Okay, since I haven't gotten any reviews, I'm just gonna thank those who reviewed before. Your reviews have encouraged me to write another chapter. Any songs in here do not belong to me, neither do the male Newsies from the movie, Medda, Ice, Frenchy, Elf and Pebbles. Thanks for your reviews, please send some soon! Go to the purple box that says go, and that will help you along. Newsie or Robin Hood cut-outs for everyone! 


	6. Im Where?

Chapter Six  
  
Drop. Drop. Splat. Drop. Drop. Splat. Great, this is just what I need for a pounding headache. Sylvester, my Aunt's Scottish terrier must have pushed the door open again is the answer I can think of. There was a faint sound of crickets and birds twittering around me. I must have slept through the afternoon and into the night. I moved my hand up to wipe the spit off but I soon had another drop on my forehead.  
  
"Sylvester.Get out of my room!"  
  
I yelled as I moved my arm around to push the Scottish terrier away but I didn't feel anything. No walls, no bedposts, nothing. Putting my hand down by my side, I felt dewy grass instead of her plush comforter.  
  
"Did I even make it into the house yesterday? Yeah, I did. I was getting away from the others."  
  
Deciding to see exactly where I was, I opened my eyes to see that instead of the white ceiling there w a bunch of leaves and branches towering over. Turning my head a little to the side, I caught sight of different flowers and one or two grasshoppers jumping through the grass.  
  
"Okay. there are not this many trees in Central Park but there are definitely none in my bedroom."  
  
Lying on the grass for a few minutes, I decided that it was time to get up and see fully where I was and how to get back to the house. I got myself into a standing position with the help from a nearby tree after a few tries and dizzy spells. Looking around I couldn't see any roads or hear any cars driving. The only sound was that of the birds and crickets.  
  
"I really must be deep in some woods. my guess is that someone broke in and as a joke carried me into a forest. Well, I should try to find a road to get back."  
  
I made my way slowly at first so not to fall over and once I knew I was stable enough, I started walking through the grass. My head was still pounding, creating a steady pulse that would annoy anyone. The walk in search for a road seemed to take forever. No matter which way I turned, I just couldn't find any pavement or hear any engines. It was 10 solid minutes before I was able to find a dirt pathway that had several footsteps encased in the mud. Besides the footprints, there were several hoof prints.  
  
"Must be some riders, they're getting out earlier and earlier."  
  
The majority of the prints were leading the same way so rather than turning back and heading the way I was sure she had come, I followed them. Moving along the path, I took in my scenery hoping to find something that sparked a memory but nothing ever did. There weren't any markings on the trees from sworn lovers. No signs indicating to pick up after dogs. I came to a fork in the path with one way leading deeper into the woods. The other pathway showed a little more light coming from the trees and the sound of running water could be heard.  
  
"Where there's water, hopefully there are people."  
  
I turned the way of the running water to come into a clearing with a wide river and small waterfall come into view. Unfortunately there weren't any people so I decided that if I were to keep with the river, then I had to come to a lake sooner or later. Keeping with the path, I soon had a problem: the path ended. There weren't any creases in the long grass and no more footprints. Casting my eyes around the scenery, I saw that on the opposite side of the river there was a pathway that led down the waterfall's edge and along the lower river.  
  
"I guess the only way to get anywhere is to get across. At least my boots are waterproof."  
  
Taking my time, I stepped onto the closest stone and if it weren't for the grips on the boots, I would have fallen in right then and there. I stepped from stone to slippery stone, making it only halfway before the next one was under water amongst others. Looking down into the clear water, I saw that it wasn't too deep to tread across in.  
  
"Well, if it's the only way to get home."  
  
Stepping a boot into the water, I could feel the coldness lap against the skin a little that did show. My sock started to get drenched, but I would be able to dry it back home later. As my assumption was right, I walked along the shallow water but as I did, the water did get deeper. Soon it was just above the hiking boots and finally mid calf.  
  
"Great. Just great. Now I'm going to get pneumonia."  
  
With the words dying on my lips, I was soon flipped up into the air and down onto my back in the water. From my head to my toe I was drenched, water flowing over top of my body. I sat up with the trench coat feeling a bit heavy and suddenly realizing that my CD player and book were in the pockets. Franticly I reached in to find that the edges of the book were slightly damaged but there was no sign of my Walkman.  
  
"I must have taken it out when I got home."  
  
Relieved that nothing was severely damaged, I looked to the cause of why I was on the ground in the water. Attached to a tree behind me was a rope while the other end disappeared into the bushes.  
  
"What the?"  
  
Echoing from the opposite side of the river a familiar voice filled the air.  
  
"There was a rich man from Nottingham who tried to cross the river. What a dope he tripped on a rope. Now look at him shiver. Beg for mercy rich man."  
  
That phrase, it sparked something in my memory that I just couldn't remember. It sounded very familiar.  
  
"I said, beg for mercy rich man or pay a tax."  
  
Then it clicked. Robin Hood Prince of Thieves had been one of those movies I had seen time after time and knew almost every line from. The line that was called out was my most favourite from the entire movie. Whoever had said the line was getting impatient.  
  
"Are you daft man? I said beg for mercy!"  
  
Snapping out of the daze, I looked off to the opposite side and knew it was time to yell back. The voice sounded a little like a child wanting everything but getting nothing.  
  
"I beg of no man! I mean, I don't beg for anything from anyone!"  
  
With that said, I stood up in the water, took hold of the rope and yanked on it as hard as I possibly could. I hoped that whoever was on the other end was holding on. My luck in assumptions was holding out because when I pulled, the man who had first pulled the rope came flying out of the bushes and landed in the water, matching the amount of wetness I was. As I stood my ground or rather water, the man in raged type clothes stood up and whistled loud and low. Emerging from the bushes came about 10 men dressed the same as the first. Some had sticks while others had bows. They all looked like they came from Robin Hood. I looked around at the different people inching their way towards me then back at their leader.  
  
"M'lord, since you are inclined on passing, you must pay a tax."  
  
"Sorry buddy, but I ain't paying you a thing."  
  
As we stood 10, maybe 20ft apart, I could see a small scowl inch across his face. With that look and the voice, my mind was going crazy trying to remember where I had seen and heard them before.  
  
"Since you object, we'll just have to take you and see that you do pay."  
  
See that I did pay? This man was sounding like a mob boss. It wasn't until I heard a faint splashing that I looked in the water and saw someone's reflection. This new man's arms were up and ready to grab me around the waist. Just as he lunged forward, I spun and ducked causing the man to splash down in the water. The others started coming towards me and for the most part I was able to avoid their hands until one of the men hit me in the stomach with the staff he was carrying making me go down on my knees into the water. I coughed and sputtered, holding a hand around my midsection as I heard the leader come up to her. Looking up through wet hair, I could see the leader with sunlight illuminating him. Not only had the scowl and the voice been familiar but also seeing him fully up close had my mind reeling. The man wasn't half bad looking with brown hair mixed with dirty blonde that ended just below his neck. It had a wavy look. He signalled to two of the men who each grabbed an arm and pulled me up to my feet.  
  
I flipped the hair that was in my face back, spraying some of the men with water beads as I looked to the leader. He stood wet himself though not as much as I did. I glared at him with fierce green eyes and saw that his were a chocolate brown that made me slightly hungry.  
  
"Do I know you from somewhere?"  
  
"I don't think so. I've never seen you before M'lord."  
  
I groaned and tried to move my arms but that just made my stomach hurt more and coughing, I sunk a little. The two men pulled me up for more support.  
  
"Would you cut it out with the M'lord stuff? I'm not a lord. I'm a girl and a pissed off one at that."  
  
I heard several gasps around me as I saw that the leader's brown eyes grew wide in confusion.  
  
"But your trousers are suited for men. You wear a black cloak and your hair is short? You look more like a man than a lady."  
  
"I know a lot of girls who have short hair and wear long cut off pants. Plus this is normally what I wear."  
  
I watched as the leader looked me over like a contestant in a dog show and walked around eyeing her up and down like a dog does its meat.  
  
"Remove the cloak."  
  
I tried to resist but my breath still hadn't returned. While two men held me up by my arms the one I had dodged first came up and pulled the cloak off. The crimson shirt stuck to my body from the water, showing the curves of my upper body. The leader stood in front of me before leaning over to the man holding my wet trench coat. He then turned his attention back me. The silence was unnerving.  
  
"Take a picture, it lasts longer."  
  
That got me some more stares than before but this time they were mixed with confused looks. I dismissed the looks since I was used to them. Finally the handsome leader spoke to me.  
  
"Well, I'm not sure what to do with you. You act like a man but yet are a woman. I know woman like that, but most don't dress as you do. Bull," the man said turning to the man holding the trench coat "put a sack over her head. Much, you and Bull will carry this visitor back to camp by her arms and I'll carry her feet."  
  
Before I could object, I had a bag placed over her head. I could feel my arms be lifted up and feet were soon up in the air. All my clothes dripped with water as I heard the splashing of water as I was carried out of the river. I could feel the leader's warm hands around my cold ankles and they felt good. Low voices were used around me as they walked and I was carried through the forest. At one point my left foot was dropped and using that opportunity to kick up, I connected with someone's face. Curses that I had never even heard before were muttered and my feet were firmly grasped again. When I was finally let down my arms were sore but the pain wasn't so bad with the thought of giving one of my captors a black eye.  
  
"Bull, tie the lady's arms up. It'll be safer for all of us."  
  
Few cackles could be heard from the men around me. My arms were pulled from my sides with force to my front where she felt rough cords bind her wrists together. The bag was pulled up off her head and bright sunlight blinded her for a few seconds. The last time I had this happen was when my bratty cousins on Dad's side decided to wake me up using a flashlight. Once my vision cleared, I looked around to see down in a small gully were straw and stick huts. Hearing voices come from above, I turned her eyesight up to the trees were wooden planked and stick tree houses. Plank and rope bridges connected the different platforms.  
  
"Someone's been busy."  
  
I muttered to myself. More weird looks were given but this time just from the leader who had been the only one to hear me. I looked the leader over the face and saw a red mark under his left eye.  
  
'He must have been the one I kicked. Nice aim.'  
  
I thought congratulating myself. With the piece of rope that the Bull person left, the men's leader grabbed hold of it and started to lead me down into the gully.  
  
"Will, What have you got there?"  
  
I turned my attention to the voice to see three men and two women walking towards us. The leader turned and smiled to the people. Will, I guessed, handed the rope off to the Bull person and he walked up to the group of people, giving each a hug. Bull and Much who stood around me sparked some familiarity just as the Will person had. I watched as Will brought the group of people over to where I was standing.  
  
"Caught this one trying to get across without paying a tax."  
  
My glance turned up to look at the people's faces and saw that there were more familiar faces. Seeing the multitude of everyone finally gave my memory the jolt that it needed. The people that I was reminded of were of the preps. Standing in front without a care were Spot, Jack, Ice and Stress. The only thing different about them was their clothes. Their facial features were altered slightly but I was sure that they were who I thought they were. Pies was standing off to the side but unlike his skinny self, he was rather large looking and balder. From one of the huts, another man joined the group. His skin was darker and it was Boots the A.V. Kid but what was he doing with them since he never hung out before with the preps.  
  
"Will what is the visitor's name?" Boots asked as he came up.  
  
"Yes, They must have a name." The second speaker was Ice.  
  
'This has got to be some sort of charade. It's time to put a stop to it.'  
  
I thought, feeling the cords tight around my wrists. Looking Ice's way, I spoke out with a somewhat angry tone.  
  
"Cut the crap. You know perfectly well what my name is. You set this whole thing up I bet. You're mad that I got Pulitzer on your case for being late. Give it up."  
  
With that, I lunged forward with my bound hands ready to shake the confession right out of the girl. Ice reached into a pouch and pulled out a silver blade but neither of us got to battle. Specs or rather Will as everyone was calling him grabbed one of my arms while Spot grabbed the other one. They picked me up causing my feet to dangle as I kicked around. There was a small crowd forming around the group of people and at the sight of my dangling from the two men's arms made everyone laugh.  
  
"Let me go! I am gonna get you for this Ice!"  
  
Ice stood there and put the dagger back away in the pouch.  
  
"M'lady. I am not this person whom you refer to as Ice. My name is Marian. Lady Marian of Locksley."  
  
The woman standing beside Pies who was Stress stepped up to Ice's side.  
  
"She tells the truth. The name is Marian and not Ice."  
  
I looked Stress in the eye from where I was hanging.  
  
"Would you be quiet Stress? Just because you're good in Drama doesn't mean that you can show it off outside of school."  
  
Spot gave the rope over to Specs as he moved over to his girlfriend.  
  
"Visitor, to speak so to the high women of this camp is disgraceful. Reframe from using a tone as such you just used. We have told you twice over that my wife is not this person you think she is. I will give you your last introduction. My wife's name is Marian of Locksley. Next is the person who caught you trying to cross. He is my brother, Will Scarlet."  
  
Both Specs and Ice stepped forward at the mention of their false names. I had been so intent on those in front of me; I hadn't realized that someone had taken control of the rope from Specs. I watched as Robin pointed to the other people.  
  
"The large man with a beard is Little John, his wife beside him is Fanny and the boy is his son Wulf."  
  
Jack and Stress wrapped their arms around each other as the boy Spot had pointed to standing off with a staff in his hand. The boy looked similar to the boy Andrew, Jack's cousin who always followed them around.  
  
"Lastly, there are my good men Friar Tuck, Bull, Much and holding your rope is my very good friend Azeem."  
  
Stepping forward were Pies, Kid Blink and a kid that was known as Blender. Boots obviously couldn't since he was the person who was holding the rope. I looked at everyone. They had different names and slightly different appearances but they were still the preps that had tormented me for the past month. Everything was starting to get confusing and my head from the bump was starting to throb again with pain.  
  
"Marian, what's all this commotion?"  
  
Walking towards the group of people, who were now just the preps and I since I had stopped squirming and wasn't giving a show anymore were Elf, Frenchy and Pebbles. They too were dressed as the preps and also had the different features to their familiar faces.  
  
"What the?"  
  
Ice greeted Frenchy and the others with a warm smile and a hug before turning back to me.  
  
"Visitor, this is Sarah, my lady in waiting and Bull's wife. The other two are my cousins Leighanne," she pointed to Pebbles "and Jade."  
  
She pointed to Elf. Everything was becoming too much. My vision was starting to blur a little as the things and people around me started to spin. I shook my head and the vision cleared. Seeing my friends with the preps, and actually being friends made me want to pass out.  
  
"I need to get away from here and fast."  
  
I muttered to myself as everyone else chatted on what to do with the newcomer. Wrapping my hands around the cord that led to Boots, I yanked as hard as I could. The sudden movement caused by the visitor caught Boots/Azeem to be so surprised that he let go of the rope at the tug. Using my shoulder, I pushed my way past Boots, Kid Blink and Blender who had tried to catch my arms but I side stepped all of them and made my way to the forest. I was able to get a good punch at Blender causing him to fall backwards. I entered the forest and kept running full force until I couldn't run anymore. I passed by trees around large bushes and through tall grass only wanting to get away. When I couldn't breathe easily anymore, I made my way to a near by tree and slumped on the opposite side from the camp.  
  
"Okay, now to get these stupid cords off."  
  
Taking a closer look at the cords, I could see that they were wound around at least three times. Taking the nearest rock I could find, I started to move the cords back and forth over and over in between my wrists. I got halfway through the cords before the pain returned to my head. As I concentrated on the job, the cords started to blur. Determination was greater than the throbbing pulse so I kept on pushing it to the back of my priorities and concentrated on the work. When I got the last cord cut the pain hit me with a full force and I couldn't take it anymore. I fell under the pain's spell and became unconscious dropping down to the forest floor.  
  
A/N: Okay, okay, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Now with that out of the way I can make my apologies. I'm sorry I haven't updated this in a while. I was trying to write the story up for a scholarship but I wasn't able to. I'll just have to wait till next year. I repeat sorry to those who did review the chapters and I said no one did. I kinda forgot to look in the area. The pink has arrived! Okay, well review, tell friends, Irish, you too. lol. I'll talk to you all later. Robin Hood cut outs of your favourite Merry Man and a Newsie one to the Newsie lovers out there. Until later, hasta!  
  
Dodger McClure  
  
~*~*The meanest, toughest, kindest Newsie this side of the Boarder~*~* 


	7. Questions and Answersor at least a few

As I came back to the waking world, the sounds I could hear were that of only the crickets. I opened my eyes and everything around me was black but the soft beam of silver moonlight. My body was stiff from where I had been laying and I thought that if I was to move, I would fall to pieces.  
  
"Maybe all that was a dream."  
  
From its spot on my stomach, I lowered my hand down to my side and felt a bed of straw beneath a sheet of material.  
  
"Okay, maybe not."  
  
I suddenly realized that the throbbing pulse that had put me to sleep wasn't there anymore. Instead it was cold. Reaching back, I felt that there was a cold cloth dampening my hair slightly.  
  
"Let's see if I can stand up."  
  
Taking my time, I pushed myself into a sitting position and then waited for the ache to return. Nothing. I moved myself up to stand by pulling up with the help from the wall. Moving to the window, I looked out over the campground. Throughout the gully there were several fires blazing and loud boisterous laughter echoing through the night air. Moonlight illuminated all the straw rooftops making them shimmer like gold.  
  
"I see that you've awaken."  
  
Turning from my place at the window, I could see a figure standing in the doorway. It was until I squinted and looked closer that I could see that it was Specs or Will as he seemingly preferred to be called. In his hand I saw that he held a loaf of fresh bread that's scent filled the air. I looked at it, taking a deep breath in to smell the delicious scent when I realized that I hadn't eaten anything since lunch and it had to be getting close to midnight.  
  
"You must be hungry."  
  
Specs/Will stated, a small grin tugging across his face. Not wanting to give in, I crossed my arms and shook my head. There was still no hurting and in my mind, I smiled so not to give the person satisfaction of seeing the smile.  
  
"Not really, I'm fine."  
  
Though my mind spoke one thing, my stomach spoke or rather grumbled another. This time, the smiled displayed across Specs/Will's face as he laughed.  
  
"Well I think that your stomach betrays you."  
  
With that said, he tossed the bread over to me and stepped away from the doorway. Wanting to find out where I was exactly, I followed out behind to find that the person who had given me food was sitting on the platform with his feet straight out over the planks. I stood for a few minutes, trying to decide if I should sit or if I should go back in and eat the bread.  
  
"You can sit. Everyone else has eaten and are sitting out around the campfires."  
  
Rather than insulting him or saying any comment back I sat down against the post as far as I could with then bringing my legs up against my chest and resting my head on the top. I should have started at the food but answers were what I really wanted at that point, not some food.  
  
"Why aren't you down there with the others?"  
  
Taking a bite from the apple he had pulled from somewhere, Specs/Will looked out over the site.  
  
"I prefer solitude when I eat. Plus I wanted to see if you were awake and feeling any better."  
  
He added the last bit just as I was about to say that eating with me wasn't anywhere near solitude.  
  
"Oh."  
  
Even though I was hungry and had the food in my hands all fresh and smelling nice, I just sat there on the platform and picked at it. Will gazed over at the girl.  
  
"I'm not sure if you are a witch or not, but I doubt that you can eat that bread just by picking at it."  
  
At the sound of being told how to eat made I lost my appetite all together. I set the food down on the platform beside me, wrapped my bare arms around my legs and rested my painless head down on my knees once again.  
  
"I've got to be dreaming." She muttered closing her eyes.  
  
"Well I'm awake and you're awake so I don't think your dreaming. Once food gets into that stomach of yours, you'll be fine."  
  
Looking up from my knees, I saw that Will had moved from his spot at the post to a crouching position in front of me. The chocolate brown eyes that reminded me so much of Specs shone with worry and kindness but there was a hint of authority and that were just enough to turn me off. I straightened my back and looked him dead in the eye.  
  
"Listen bud, I don't need you telling me what to do or telling me what I need. The only thing I need at the moment is that black cloak you took off me this afternoon. Where is it?"  
  
Will was taken back by the quick force that I spoke with.  
  
"I placed it beside your bed when Robin, Bull and Little John brought you up."  
  
It took me a few minutes to remember who each of those people were.  
  
"I've never seen one of those cloaks before. It's got sleeves and pouches."  
  
"Yeah, well. I'm going to go back in and get it."  
  
With the help from the railing, I pulled myself up before Will could take my arm in his hand and help me up. I gave him a small smile before entering the hut again.  
  
"Okay. now where is that coat."  
  
Gazing towards the straw mattress that I had woken up on, I could see that what Will had said was true. At the foot of the bed folded up neatly was my trench coat. Crossing over the floor quickly, I grabbed up the coat and as I sat back down I reached into the inside pocket to pull out the notebook and a pen.  
  
"Now to write."  
  
As I set the pen to paper, I started to write about what had happened so far with coming upon these people. I wrote about the river incident, the confrontation of the preps, everything. I was starting to describe the differences between Will and Specs when I heard creaking up a ladder and voices.  
  
"Will, how is she? Has she awakened?"  
  
"Yes. She's in my hut at the moment. For some reason she wanted that odd cloak of hers."  
  
"Have you been able to get anything out of the stranger, such as her name, where she's from?"  
  
"No. She was very quiet. She switched back and forth with different attitudes so I haven't been able to figure out how to ask her. She seems like a secretive type, which could mean she's a sorceress. That cloak of hers is something I've never seen before."  
  
From my spot against the wall, I wanted to yell out that I wasn't a witch, but just a girl that liked to keep to herself. As the two men talked, they got closer to the entrance of the hut. I slipped the book and pen back into the pockets and curled up pulling the coat over me like a blanket. I heard the men walk into the hut and stop at my feet.  
  
"That's odd. I thought she wanted her cloak for some witching purposes, not for a blanket. Oh, when you all left for supper I examined her head and saw that along the back was a nasty bump from some fall. Around her side is a small gash as well. I'm assuming that she got into a fight before we happened upon each other. That may be the cause of her attitude towards all of us and thinking we're someone other than ourselves."  
  
"Maybe. Until we find out more about her, she will be staying in your hut. I would put her with another but there isn't any more room. You are the only one here that isn't sharing space. I'll send Marian, Sarah, Jade and Leighanne up to help her change into more suitable clothing."  
  
Footsteps moved away from my feet and out the door of the hut. I could hear both men move down the ladder and their voices fade into the night. When I was sure that no one would be coming any time soon, I got up from where I sat and first checked out my side. I remembered the scrape that I had gotten from the dodge ball game and now there was a piece of cloth over top of it. Unfortunately part of the shirt was cut away to get to the scrape.  
  
"To think, the only pink shirt I actually liked. Wait, crimson shirt. Now, time to get out of here."  
  
Bringing my trench coat up around my shoulders, I made my way to the doorway and peaked out. Wearing black seemed to help me sneak out many times before and was going to now. Peaking out of the hut, I could see that the cost was clear. I made my way to the ladder and like a cat, made my way down quickly. Touching feet to the ground, I started towards the forest's edge as a voice called out.  
  
"Where do you think you're going?"  
  
I froze. Not in all of my years that I had snuck out of the house had I ever been caught. Slowly turning around, I saw that the person who had spoken out was Ice or rather Marian. I straightened up and stared at the other woman.  
  
"I'm going out dancing. What does it look like I'm doing?"  
  
"Well it seems to me that you are running off into a wood that you know nothing about."  
  
I stared and scoffed in disbelief. Hadn't this girl ever heard of sarcasm? Rather than responding, I just turned back around and started more for the trees and brush once again.  
  
"Come on back here. Robin wanted me and the others to help you change."  
  
I stopped and spun on my heel. For my entire life whenever I heard the words 'you change' in the same sentence, I cringed with hatred for them.  
  
"Listen, tell Spot or Robin or whatever his name is that I'm not changing and he can go to hell."  
  
Ice/Marian let out a gasp at hearing me say hell. Satisfied that I had yet again shocked a person, I turned to storm off into the depths of the trees, only to have my arm grabbed and whipping me back around. In the past whenever that happened, I would normally lashed out before the other person could. Out went my fist and connected with Ice/Marian's stomach. The other woman let go of my arm staggered back to gain back her breath. Once she had her breath back, Ice charged at me full force and swung out. I side stepped each swing and returned them with a blowback. Neither of us girls realized that a crowd was forming around us, blocking our movement if we were to back into huts or into the forest. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Will/Specs and Robin/Spot standing together at one point then apart at another.  
  
The two fighters started circling each other, keeping our eyes on the other. Just as we were about to go at one another, Will grabbed me around the waist while Robin did the same thing to Ice/Marian. I'm slowly remembering the names that the people were using than the ones I remembered.  
  
"Let me GO!"  
  
I yelled as I struggled against Will's arms. While Will grunted with holding onto me, Robin spoke out as he maintained Ice/Marian.  
  
"I will not stand having anymore quarrels in this camp. Marian, go to our hut and calm down. Take your cousins, Sarah and Fanny with you."  
  
Once the women had left and everyone but the men I had been introduced to earlier had too, I finally calmed down and stopped struggling. I kept my head looking down, my eyes were a stormy green and that was the only emotion on her face. Robin walked up to where we stood and lifted my down turned head so that I looked him straight in the eye. Staring at him I saw that his eyes were a mix of greys and blues.  
  
"We're going to have a little talk with our visitor here over at the campfire."  
  
Seeing as I had stopped struggling in Will's grasp, Robin told his brother to release me. The moment my arms were freed, I took the opportunity and elbowed Will in the centre of his stomach. As he clutched his stomach, Little John seized hold over my arms this time. While the others walked ahead of Little John, he led me to the fire standing off to one side and while Bull was on the other. Will took a spot beside Robin, which for him was enough space from me the new visitor. They all took a seat while Little John stood behind me, forcing me down to the ground  
  
"M'lady, those were some interesting moves you did back there."  
  
Dodger looked at Robin with a blank look.  
  
"Thanks." Robin gave a small growl like sound. Apparently he wasn't done speaking.  
  
"Anyways, where did you learn to do those moves? Surely someone trained you?"  
  
"No one trained me. I just learned that."  
  
"Well, I've never seen moves like that since the Crusades. What is your name?"  
  
I debated in my mind whether or not I should say anything to these men and in the long run I decided that it couldn't hurt.  
  
"Name's Dodger McClure."  
  
"A Scot!"  
  
All the men jumped and were ready to draw swords when I spoke up again in haste to keep my safety.  
  
"I'm part Scottish and part English but I wasn't born in either land."  
  
That stopped the men from drawing their swords or staffs. They breathed a sigh of relief and sat back down in their places on the ground or on logs.  
  
"So, your name is Dodger?"  
  
"My friends gave me the name when I was younger and I've had the nickname ever since."  
  
Hearing that the name Dodger was nothing but a nickname, the men around me gave confused looks. Will and Robin leaned towards one another and whispered a few words between them before looking back. Will cleared his throat before speaking.  
  
"Well, we have a lot of questions for you, but you keep running off. In order to ask them, we need you to be tied up. Azeem?"  
  
From his place beside Will, Azeem stood bringing with him a lengthy piece of rope. He first wound it around my wrists but then pulled my feet out in front of me and tied the wrists to the feet. I let out a few grumbles as Azeem made his way back to his seat.  
  
"First, we want to know where you are from?"  
  
"No where you know."  
  
"How old are you?"  
  
"Younger than you."  
  
"Why do you wear black and crimson? Are they your family's colours?" I let out a scoff.  
  
"No they aren't my family's colours. My family would kill me if I chose these as our colours."  
  
"Then why do you wear them?" Robin asked. "I wear the blue of Locksley and Will wears blue and red from his Mother and our Father."  
  
The looks on their faces were priceless. Before me were men with red frustrated faces that they hadn't gotten the proper answers they were looking for. The only real evidence of who I happened to be was what my name was. Will and Robin leaned in once again to talk before Robin looked back at me with a smile.  
  
"Are you a witch?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Why do you wear black then if you are not a witch?"  
  
He had caught me. There wasn't an answer but the truth that I could think of to get me out of the question.  
  
"I wear black because it is convenient and to get rid of annoying people such as yourselves. The only magic I know of is how to jump start my bike when it dies."  
  
Once again I received a weird look from the people around me.  
  
'I really need to watch what I say.'  
  
As I gazed around at the men, I could see by thanks to the firelight that the men were giving up. Robin stood up from his log stool and the others followed right after him.  
  
"Since Dodger is not giving us any useful information tonight we shall retire for bed. The ladies are returning to the city tomorrow so breakfast will be early."  
  
Everyone said their goodnights and wandered to their huts while Robin and Will were the only ones left. I was still sitting on the ground, feeling as though I was a hog ready for roasting. I waited patiently for someone to come and cut or untie the bonds, but neither of the men standing came and helped.  
  
"Uh, guys?" Both looked down at the voice.  
  
"Oh sorry."  
  
Will got down on one knee and untied the knots at my feet. Unfortunately for me, Will left the knots at my hands still tied.  
  
"Will," the man looked up "take care of her. We will talk more tomorrow."  
  
With that, Robin was off to his own hut that he shared with Marian. Around the two figures kneeling and sitting on the ground, campfire was the only source of light that illuminated us. Our faces shone partially, shadows being cast along the hard ground of our two merging selves.  
  
"Uh Will? Could you take the wrist cords off too? I would appreciate it."  
  
Will took my hands in his and slowly undid the knot and unwound the cords.  
  
"So, Dodger. Interesting name."  
  
"Thanks. I've always liked it."  
  
Once the cords were removed, I rubbed my wrists softly. Will watched as my hands moved against one another.  
  
'Wow.for such a fighter, she has really delicate hands.'  
  
He took a deep breath before speaking again.  
  
"Listen, Dodger. We just want to find out where you are from and why you are here. Is that so hard?"  
  
He looked at me with big chocolate brown eyes, the puppy eye move. Whenever my cousins or friends have given me that look, I have always gave in. It was so adorable.  
  
"All right. I guess it can't hurt. I'll tell you some stuff, but my way: a question for a question."  
  
Will looked and milled the idea over in his mind before giving a small smile and nodding his agreement.  
  
"Okay but me first. How old are you?"  
  
"I'm 18 turning 19 in a few days. How old are you?"  
  
"I'm 19. I turn 20 in a few days as well. Now that wasn't so hard was it?"  
  
He gave a laugh as I rolled my eyes and groaned a little.  
  
"All right. What's your family like?"  
  
I knew that I couldn't tell the entire truth or else Will wouldn't believed me.  
  
"Well," she said as she threw a nearby stick into the campfire "I'm an only child and my parents are extremely overprotective of me. My Father always disliked the idea of me hanging out with boys than girls. My Mother tried to get me to dress like her and the other ladies she knew but as you can see, I'm not like most girls."  
  
Will shook his head in agreement. His gaze turned to the campfire, mesmerized by the flickering colours.  
  
"What about your family?"  
  
Will took his time to answer that question. He had always avoided it with others. Silence was removed by the sound of crackling wood, crickets chirping and bullfrogs calling out to the wild night.  
  
"You've met my family. Robin is my half brother. He is older than me by 12 years but sometimes acts younger, especially with the children. For the past two years, Marian and he have been married and she has been like a sister. All of the men and women of the camp who follow Robin are like family. Before he arrived I just had the men for brothers, but now I have sisters too."  
  
I didn't need to hear that answer since I've seen the movie time and time again, but it had been nice to hear it from his lips and not through metal speakers. Letting the words set, Will snapped from his hypnotic daze in the fire to look at me. He scanned my face, trying to find some type of reaction to what he said but all he found was soft green eyes staring back at the fire. He caught several flickers of gold dance through them when I looked back at him.  
  
"So what is your real name? Dodger is only a nickname as you have said. What is your real one?"  
  
Will caught a small movement at the sound of the question. I have never liked to answer this question and rarely did. Normally I would veer off onto another subject or just answer with silence.  
  
"I can't really tell you." A confused look clouded Will's face.  
  
"What do you mean you can't tell me? Surely you can."  
  
"Well, its not that I CAN'T tell you, it's just that I really choose not to tell. Most people don't know my true name unless I let them know and that is only if I absolutely trust them. My parents, my family of course and two friends who have known me for most of my life are the only ones."  
  
I took a twig and tossed it into the fire.  
  
"We you can tell me and trust me that it won't go any farther in this camp."  
  
I stood from my place on the ground and stretched before looking down at him.  
  
"Pay attention to what I'm saying Will. I seriously don't know if I can trust you so I can't tell you. Trust needs to be earned when it comes to me."  
  
Just as I finished the sentence a yawn came.  
  
"Will, I'm getting tired and my head is still a bit sore. Do you think you could show me where I'll be staying?"  
  
Will clamoured up off the ground and dusted the bark and leaves from his butt.  
  
"Oh yeah, Robin figured that since I was the one to find you and bring you in, you should stay with me in my hut. Also, there isn't any other room at the moment. All the other huts are full."  
  
I stood there and watched as a small smile crept to Will's face. I groaned, not liking the sleeping option one bit though I knew that it was coming.  
  
"Do you think that maybe I could sleep out here for the night? It's not like I'll be going anywhere. Heck, I don't even know where here is?"  
  
I looked around at the trees and darkened huts before looking back at Will.  
  
"First M'lady, you are in Sherwood Forest."  
  
'Great. Besides everyone looking like people I know, I have to land in a place where the name is exactly the same.'  
  
I thought, keeping a groan muffled so on I heard it.  
  
"Second, no you can't sleep out here. I know you can take care of yourself but until you are fully settled, you are staying with me."  
  
The look on Will's face told me that he wasn't going to give in on this decision.  
  
"Oh fine. Lead the way."  
  
I waited as Will took a bucket of water and doused the fire until it was fully out before leading her to his hut again. Once we were up the ladder and inside, Will lay out another piece of cloth on the wooden floor. I started to move that way, but my companion put out his hand on my shoulder and stopped me. He then turned me back towards the straw mattress.  
  
"You sleep on the mattress. I'll sleep on the blanket tonight."  
  
I wanted to argue, saying that the wooden floor would have been fine, but Will had turned his back to me and was about to lay down. Giving a sigh, I went to the straw mattress and pulled my trench coat off. Folding it into a pillow, I set it at the top of the makeshift bed and laid down on the cloth once again. I could feel the smooth side of the writing book and small bump of the pen nestled down deep in the coat. At least if I tossed and turned, nothing would break by the movement. I curled up with my back to where Will lay and laid my head on my hand. Slowly, my eyes started to close and sleep over took my consciousness for dreamland.  
  
A/N: Hey! Thanks to those two people who reviewed chapter 6. It means a lot. I'm still working on putting this for a manuscript so that will take time. Well got to go to bed. Night y'all! 


	8. Observer and A New Start

Chapter Eight  
  
Waking the next morning, I found that the sun was inching its way across my face, blinding me slightly. As I laid on the mattress for several minutes, I tried to get my eyes to adjust to the light until the red spots disappeared.  
  
"Was just a dream?" I hoped.  
  
I slowly rose up to get out of what I thought was my bed, only to find that it wasn't. Everything was the same as when I had fallen asleep. The straw beneath me was where it had been when I had fallen asleep. There was something new though. I remembered that when I had fallen asleep, I had no blanket on. Now, gathered on my lap was a bunch of off white material. Picking it up in my hands, I found that it was some kind of shirt, a man's shirt, rather than blanket. I turned my gaze to the area Will had fallen asleep and all that was left there was the material or blanket he had laid out. Though I wondered where Will had gone, the first thing to do was to get up and stretch.  
  
Stretching out my sore muscles felt really good. Every kink in my neck, arms and my legs disappeared. Even my back felt at ease with the slight stretch. Once that was done with, I ran my hands down my shirt. It was wrinkled and felt stiff against my chest.  
  
"Man do I hate sleeping in day old clothes."  
  
Problem was, I had no other clothes. I'd have to wait till I could ask Will. Until then, the shirt that had been acting as a blanket would have to do. I quickly changed out of my ripped shirt and into the other shirt. The only problem was that the shirt hung down to mid-thigh and was very loose.  
  
"Ok... I can solve this."  
  
Picking up my trench coat, I pulled my belt tie from its loops and tied it around my waist. The tension around the material pulled the shirt up at least an inch so I pulled the material from above the belt and that helped the shirt to shorten up in looks. To untangle my hair, I ran my fingers through the mess a few times until I felt it was satisfactory and didn't look like a rat's nest. With my looks settled, I went out onto the landing and looked out. Everything was peaceful except for a small stream of smoke.  
  
"Wonder who that could be?"  
  
Rather than letting the curiosity drive me insane, I moved to the ladder and descended onto the leafed ground. My boots made a small thud as they connected with the dirt and I made my way silently towards the fire. As I got closer to the fire, I noticed that there was a solitary figure sitting at the fire with his back to me. I didn't recognize him as someone I had met the night before. The hair was down to the nape of his neck, but from what I had seen from the day before, a lot of men had their hair like that.  
  
"Uh, excuse me?"  
  
"Good morning Dodger."  
  
I was surprised. How could this person know it was I? I made my way forward and took a seat down beside the person to find that it was Will.  
  
"Mornin. How did you know it was me?"  
  
"Normally I'm the first one up and no one else is for another 15mins so I figured it had to be you."  
  
I looked into the fire. Normally I was the last person to be up in any house. How could I be one of the first ones was beyond me. Will sat beside me and taking a look from the corner of my eye, I could see that he wasn't looking at the fire, but at me.  
  
"You look different in the morning sun." I turned my gaze fully to Will.  
  
"Yeah, uh, ok then."  
  
"Do you want a drink of tea?"  
  
I looked at him for a few minutes before nodding that I would. Normally I only drank coffee, but I wasn't one to ask for it if they didn't offer in the first place. Will poured the tea in a matching cup and handed it over to me. I gave a small smile and took the cup bringing it to my lips and blowing softly before taking a sip. That small sip felt like the wake up jolt I needed after the tiring day before. I looked up from the cup to see Will's full attention on me, well, more the shirt I was wearing than anything else.  
  
"What?"  
  
"No, I just noticed that you're wearing the shirt I wore yesterday."  
  
I looked down to see that the off white material was the same shirt Will had worn. I got a small chill from the thought he had worn it. But then I remembered that it would have been wet.  
  
"Wait... didn't this one get wet when I pulled you in the river?"  
  
I was unsure why this one was drier than it should have been.  
  
"My first one did. The one you're wearing was what I wore during the question period and fight between you and Marian. I heard your teeth chattering last night and since I was using my blanket to lie on, I gave you my shirt as a blanket."  
  
This guy is like a gentleman from my time, or rather my Dad's idea of what one should be like. I turned my gaze back the other way and went back to my cup.  
  
"Well... thanks. (Sip my tea) Why are you up so early?"  
  
"Are you up to another question/answer game?"  
  
In truth I wasn't but the curiosity of why he was up so early in the morning was getting to me. I never knew guys to get up this soon.  
  
"Yeah, I guess so."  
  
"Well, in answer to your question I'm normally up before dawn. I like to watch the sun rise. Plus it's quieter now. Wait until Bull and Much are up. They are pretty loud in the morning. Okay, now it's my turn."  
  
I winced slightly as I caught sight of a somewhat mischievous look on his face. 'Please no the name question again.' I said to myself.  
  
"How exactly did you get the name Dodger? It's rare for girls or women to have a nickname." Whew, easy question.  
  
"Where I lived, I hung out a lot of the time with guys. I know it may seem odd to you, but they were the only people I felt most comfortable around. Anyways, there was this one place that I had always wanted to go to and when I finally got the gumption to go, there was this giant jerk who wouldn't let me in."  
  
I watched as confusion played over Will's face at my choice of words.  
  
"Jerk? Gumption? What does those words mean?"  
  
"Oh, well, jerk is someone who is always bothering you or acting like he's better than you are. Gumption is when you get up the nerve to do something you usually wouldn't do."  
  
I could tell that Will was still a little unnerved but rather than wanting to try and explain things further, I decided to just continue. I took a sip of the tea, finding that it was slowly going cold.  
  
"Well anyways, I tried to get in and the jerk was leader of a pack of guys. They all laughed, saying a girl like me wasn't allowed in. I kept pressing to go in and got the leader really ticked off. Well he decided that since insults didn't work, he'd use his fists. He swung out at me and I ducked down, landing a blow to his stomach with my own fist. He kept the shots comin at me and I kept dodging them side-to-side or ducking them. When he figured that I wasn't gonna be an easy case to pummel, he saved the last piece of dignity he had and left."  
  
"He just left you?? Didn't try to take you with him?"  
  
I bit back my lower lip, trying hard not to laugh seeing as people wouldn't try to take me with them. I would have just dodged their grasp.  
  
"Uh no. There were too many people around for him to do anything. After he left, two of the guys that were standing back a ways came forward and introduced themselves. We got off great and after that hung out every day. They named me Dodger seeing as in that fight, I came away with not a single bruise or scrape. I had dodged them all."  
  
Will gave me a look that told me right off he didn't believe a word that I didn't get hurt, but I was used to those. Not many people thought that what I said about the origin of the name was true until Spike and Gus vouched for me. Since they weren't there with me, it'd be entirely up to Will to believe me or not. Will pushed his hand through his brown hair and stood up, stretching as he stepped forward slightly.  
  
"Nice history. Wish mine were close to that. Scarlet is my mother's name and William, well I was named after one of the kings. Not much history with me."  
  
If he only knew what history there was to be had with Will Scarlet, then he'd whistle another tune. I started to rack my brain for my question, deciding on finding out why he started to live with the Merry Men when a voice piped up behind us.  
  
"Good mornin Will. How are you this fine mornin?"  
  
Turning around, I saw the people I thought were Kid Blink and Mush but names were Bull and Much walk towards us. They looked similar to Specs, I mean Will but Kid or rather Bull didn't have an eye patch over his left eye. As they got closer, Will leaned down towards me.  
  
"Just to warn you, with wearing my shirt, those two may think we've done something."  
  
I caught sight of a red hue comin to Will's face and I rolled my eyes, thinking that guys never change no matter what the year is. I finished off the tea in my cup and looked Will in the eye.  
  
"Don't worry. If they decide and start something they'll regret it."  
  
I left the words at that, leaving an air of surprise. Kid, I mean Bull and Much finally got where Will and I were. Once they had gotten their own tea from the pot, the three of them sat down with Bull and Much across from Will and I. Bull caught sight of the shirt I was wearing and leaned over to Much. They sat there whispering for a few minutes and took turns staring my way. This went on for several minutes before Bull straightened and looked at me full on.  
  
"Isn't that Will's shirt?"  
  
There was a sly look to Bull's face as though he was itching to tell a secret. I sipped my cup, which had been refilled with tea.  
  
"Yeah, so?"  
  
At that moment both Bull and Much smiled widely and stared at Will with hunger and lust in their eyes.  
  
"How was it Will? Is she as fierce in bed as she is when she fights?"  
  
Bull asked with a smile on his face. Even though Will had warned me I dropped the mug and moved at him, tackling him down to the ground. I was able to get a few punches to his face before Will and Much were able to pull me up off and away from Bull. Will wrapped his arms around my waist as I kept trying to pull away while Much went and helped Bull up to his feet. There was a red mark around his cheek and I knew there would be a bruise coming in later.  
  
"For your information, she slept on the mattress and I on the floor. I noticed she was cold last night and since my blanket was used as the ground cover for me, I gave her my shirt. Nothing else happened."  
  
Much and Bull looked from us to one another, still unsure if what Will had just said was true. I spoke up.  
  
"If anything had happened, I most likely would have turned red...not try to punch out your lights."  
  
Bull nodded, touching his face lightly.  
  
"No hard feelings?"  
  
"No...you just thought something most people would since I'm wearing his shirt. Plus I think you're likely to pay with that shiner coming in already."  
  
It was true. The red mark already has slight traces of blue in it. I could see the colouring due to the sun getting higher in the sky and the others in the camp were starting to come out from their own huts. From the farthest hut, I could see Robin and Ice, I mean Marian come out. Man, I just can't seem to get the name right. Robin noticed the four of us standing by the fire and headed over with his arm around his wife's waist. They parted ways before they arrived at the fire having Robin join us while she went towards the long table where women were starting to set food out on it.  
  
"Will, Bull, Much. Good morning Dodger."  
  
Once he said good morning, Robin did a slight bow before looking back towards Will.  
  
"So Will, did you get anything out of our guest?"  
  
"Yes, but I'll tell you in confidence. How about we go eat some breakfast? I'm so hungry that I would even eat Bull's slop he calls stew."  
  
The men laughed as they left the fire for the table. Picking up my cup from where I had dropped it, I followed after them. Everyone from young to old was gathering around the table that the women and Pie Eater, oops, I mean Friar Tuck set. Tuck looked from his place beside one of the woman and smiled seeing us arrive.  
  
"Come eat and be merry. Robin, Marian and the other women are getting the rest of the dishes. Why don't all of you take a seat and we'll say grace."  
  
Robin sat down at the head of the table. To his right sat Will and soon to the left sat Marian......Hey, I actually remembered it this time. Go figure. I stood off to the side, a little unsure of where I should sit, trying to find a free spot.  
  
"Little John, is it alright if Dodger sits up beside me in your spot?"  
  
I turned my gaze to see Little John just about to sit when he and Will looked my way and he nodded. He got up from his spot as Will waved me over. I watched as Little John moved down a few seats beside Fanny and Wulf. I moved over and sat down beside Will. Everything he was doing lately seemed as if he liked me but I pushed that thought aside and focused on the people around me. My stomach was softly grumbling and I wasn't about to let anyone get in my way when food was involved. Looking around the table, I saw that everyone was taking each other's hands and I followed suit. From the opposite end of the table, Friar Tuck started to speak in the soft English accent.  
  
"Lord, may all be blessed who sit at this table both old," he looked at Robin "and new." He looked towards me. I know I should have looked down during this time, but I like to watch new people after I meet them. Our eyes connected briefly before he continued. "Thank you for this breakfast and have mercy on the sinner's souls. Amen."  
  
All of us mumbled the final word and numerous hands reached out to the food. Everything looked delicious, almost like the food Aunt Medda cooked. Fresh biscuits, steaming bowls of porridge and numerous bowls of fruit lined the centre of the tables. For a while, I just sat in my place looking at everyone who reminded me of my time. I guess Azeem noticed that from his place next to me.  
  
"Fighter one, why do you not eat?"  
  
I turned my head and smiled a little.  
  
"Just taking a look at my surroundings."  
  
The man smiled, taking a bite into one of the fresh buns.  
  
"Ah, an observer. I knew many men that were like you in the Crusades."  
  
The smile stayed on my face. I was compared to someone from the Holy Crusades?? Cool. I guess Will had noticed too that I hadn't started eating because the plate in front of me was soon picked up.  
  
"Dodger, what would you like to eat?"  
  
Turning my attention back to the table, I looked at the food, trying to decide what my starving stomach wanted. I told him that just some fruit and biscuits would be fine. He piled some on my plate, looking more like 2 helpings than just one. Joyful voices came from every which way, both young and old. It seemed as though ever one was different but could get along. 'Why can't my school be liked that?' Robin asking me something soon disturbed my thoughts.  
  
"Dodger?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Before Marian, Sarah and the others leave, can I have a word with you and Will?"  
  
"Yeah sure."  
  
The breakfast mean continued. I kept mainly to myself, answering most questions that were asked of me. Both Azeem and Robin asked me why I was wearing one of Will's shirts. Will ended up explaining to Robin while I explained to Azeem the reason why. The meal finally ended with the children running off to play, leaving the adults to clear the plates and remaining food. Normally my job was to clean up at Aunt Medda's but here I didn't' know what to do.  
  
"Dodger, if you'll follow me."  
  
I guess that answered my question. I put my glass upside down on my plate so it wouldn't be too awkward for whomever was clearing the table and followed Robin whom had Marian at his side and Will who was behind him a few steps. Our destination seemed to be the campfire I had woken up to find Will at this morning. Once we stopped, the way we were set up almost looked like a Dodge ball match.  
  
"So Dodger, are you will to tell us a little more about yourself seeing as there wasn't much we could go on last night?"  
  
I looked to Will before I gave my answer. He was giving me the puppy eyes once again. Man, I am a sucker for that.  
  
"Alright, I'll tell you what I told Will last night. I'm 18 turning 19 in a few days, got the nickname Dodger by beating up a guy several years older than me and not getting any bruises. I'm an only child with parents who are very overprotective of me."  
  
"That's all?"  
  
Robin looked to Will for confirmation and Will nodded.  
  
"Well since we've gotten a bit more out of you than what I thought possible I have an idea. I've mentioned before that my wife; her cousins and lady in waiting are heading to Locksley castle today. I'll be staying her for several days. Would you care to join Marian to our home? I'd actually feel much better knowing that someone with your fighting abilities will be there with them."  
  
I stood there; slightly shocked considering just yesterday I was ready to hurt his wife. Now he's offering me to go somewhere without him or Will around?  
  
"I don't know..." Will spoke up.  
  
"I need things for my hut from town so why don't I accompany them as well?"  
  
"That would be a grand idea. We haven't spent time together in a while Will."  
  
Marian exclaimed with a smile across her face. I looked at the three people before me, not sure of what to do or say.  
  
"I'll go along, as long as Marian wants me to."  
  
Saying her name was hard. Just looking at her made me thing of Ice but for once I didn't feel like dealing with a problem using an argument.  
  
"I would gladly have you come with us. I know we started off on the wrong foot, but I believe we can mend things."  
  
Hearing her say that and having Will come along guess wouldn't be that bad.  
  
"Fine I'll come."  
  
The three of them smiled and Will said that if everyone got their things ready then we'd be able to leave in 30mins or so. Marian and Robin headed off to their hut while Will and I went back to his. Going up the ladder first, I went straight to the mattress I slept on. Taking my trench, I put it on and stuffed my shirt into one of the pockets.  
  
"Well I'm ready."  
  
"I'll be with you in a few minutes."  
  
Will took a bag and put several things of clothing in it. He also put the blanket he had been laying on in closing the bag up.  
  
"All we need now is food. I'll head to Friar Tuck and you can go to the horse stable. The others should be there by now."  
  
Horses? Not good. My parents had tried to have me ride English style when I was younger. I found most of the girls and boys who rode were pricks. I did make one friend I while I did the riding, Amy. She was doing the riding because she loved it and not because she was forced to by her parents. Her dream wasn't to marry someone well off, but to become a rider. She made her dream actually. She's a professional rider at the age of 17 in the adult's competition. Looking to Will I saw that he was already heading down the ladder. I followed and once on the ground I asked,  
  
"Do you think maybe I can walk?"  
  
Will gave me a surprised look.  
  
"Why would you want to walk? Horse is a lot faster."  
  
"I'd...rather walk. Take in my surroundings."  
  
Will looked at me oddly then finally agreed.  
  
"Okay, but I'll ride beside you for company."  
  
Nodding Will and I walked to the hut where I guess Tuck did the cooking with the women. Once we had enough food for everyone we went over to the stable. Marian, Jade, Leighanne and Sarah already had their horses out. It took Will a few minutes to get his but soon he was ready. When Marian saw that I wasn't riding, she gave me the same look Will had.  
  
"Aren't you taking a horse? I'm sure Little John wouldn't mind if you rode his."  
  
"I'll be fine. I'm used to walking."  
  
She shrugged and headed to say good-bye to Robin where he gave all the ladies but Marian a kiss on the cheek. The two of them kissed for a few seconds longer. He and Will shook arms in farewell and Robin came to me.  
  
"I see you are determined to walk so Godspeed."  
  
Rather than grabbing the hand he offered, I grabbed his forearm just as he and Will had done. We shook and once we released, Will nudged his horse and we started on our way.  
  
A/N: Holy cow... it has been a long time since I did any updating to my stories. I'm sorry to all who have been waiting but I took a writer's class this past semester and that took up all my time. Someone said to me in a review that Dodger was judging by stereotypes as well and yes that is true. Whenever she sees people, they automatically remind her of her parents and that's what gives off the bad impression. Things will be fixed in her mind though... I have planned on that. Thank you for all of those who have reviewed and hopefully I can update all my stories that need to be all soon. Work can also be a drag. Thanks to those who give confident words. I'll write the next chapter soon. Until later, adios. 


	9. Ride to Nottingham

Chapter Nine  
  
Walking along the path beside Will, I saw that the scenery reminded me of the forest in Aspen. Whenever I wasn't working, I would wonder the cross- country trails. If I had been stranded there during the night, I would know exactly which way was to go back in order to get out to the chalet. The forest was filled with bird noises and that had always put a smile on my face. Looking at the forest more, I could see squirrels running along the branches or down the trunks of trees. I caught sight of a rabbit moving ahead of us across the pathway before he disappeared into the brush on the other side. As I moved along the pathway looking at things, I caught sight of Will watching me, opening his mouth then shutting it. He continued to do this and each time he did, I kept getting the feeling he was going to ask if I was getting tired.  
  
What felt like several hours later, I saw that the clearing Will and I were coming to already had Marian and the others were getting the lunch Will had given to them from Tuck. I walked over as Will got down off his horse with the food for us and sat down beside Marian and Will once Sarah laid out the blankets.  
  
"I thought it was a good time for us to take a break. Give the horses time to graze."  
  
We all nodded as we dug into the sacks, pulling out bread and fruit. As we all began to eat, I noticed that all the women were wearing riding pants of some sort. Marians were that of a deep blue while her cousins were either black or red. Sarah's pants were a forest green with black patches over top of them. They all looked like something I might have worn back at Aunt Medda's. Marian tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the silver rose outline on my pants.  
  
"Dodger, that is an interesting design. What does it symbolize?"  
  
Symbolize? I don't know. I was into rose designs when I bought the pants.  
  
"Uh...It symbolizes... familiarity and toughness." I smiled to myself, that was good on the spot.  
  
"Familiarity and toughness?"  
  
Will asked with a mouthful of bread. Guys never seem to grow up and swallow.  
  
"Well where I used to live, pretty much everyone knew who I was. My signature marking was a rose. The toughness comes from the thorns. As you guys saw the other day, I'm tough when I fight. Thorns are really tough and hard to break."  
  
The women and Will nodded in understanding, actually believing the explanation. We sat and the others chatted about the route to take while I focused my attention on a pack of squirrels. They were running over the trees chasing each other. It was amusing, almost like seeing the Discovery Channel up close. When everyone had finished their food, the women all got back on their horses and started off, as Will and I folded up a few blankets and put them on his horse.  
  
"Are you going to continue to walk?"  
  
"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"  
  
"Just thought maybe you'd change your mind."  
  
Will secured the blankets and hopped up on his horse, looking down at me. The sun caught on his hair a little, really making him look like Specs for a few minutes.  
  
"Well I'll keep on walking. You don't have to stay beside me. You can go up with the others. Not like I'm gonna get lost if I can still see you."  
  
Will shook his head.  
  
"I promised my brother I'd watch over you and I will."  
  
It seemed as though I wasn't going to shake him so I shrugged my shoulders and started walking. Will motioned for his horse to move and was soon back at his place beside me. There were a few minutes of silence before he started whistling a tune of some sort. At least this time it wasn't as tension quiet as before. Ahead of us I could see the others and off to the left I noticed some rustling. The entire bush seemed to shift and it was too big to be a squirrel or rabbit from what I thought. I quickened my pace and soon I was running to catch up. Will noticed my movement and using the reins he caught up to me. Just as we reached the women, 3 men from the left came from the bushes. Taking a quick look, I saw that 3 more had come from the right. I'm not entirely sure why, but the first guy I saw, I tackled him before he could get to Jade's horse. One man tried going for the women's reins and Marian and Leighanne started kicking at him.  
  
The man I took down finally gave up after I punched him several times. Will got a man as well and started to tie him up using some cords that they had provided to, in my estimate, tie up the others. Two of the men were knocked out by kicks and the other two had fled. I helped Will tie up the man I got and when that was done, he grabbed him and pushed him hard against a tree.  
  
"Who sent you after us?!"  
  
In Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Will had never let true anger show. Sure he had gotten angry, but looking at him now, there was a hot blaze over his face and everything. I stood back watching the man's face turn a pale colour and start stuttering.  
  
"It...it was Lord J...Joseph of P...Pulitzer."  
  
Pulitzer? I wondered if he looked like the history teacher.  
  
"Well you're going to tell us why Lord Joseph sent you."  
  
"He...he sent us to get L...Lady Marian and all who follows her. She...She was to be held cap...captive until a ransom was p...paid."  
  
By now, the women had gotten down from their horses and were standing in a semi-circle around the tree. Marian's face was flushed, her hair slightly out of the braid.  
  
"See here, exactly why did you go at us?"  
  
Once again the man relayed his orders and once he finished, she punched him in th efface.  
  
"Tell his Lordship that no one will take me or my family against their will."  
  
Marian stomped off towards the horses, her cousins and Sarah trailing after her to calm her down. Will and I untied the two men and warning them again of not being as nice the next time, watched the 2 men hobble off into the woods, one supporting a fallen man. When we made sure they were out of sight, Marian came back towards us.  
  
"Thank you Will."  
  
She wound her arms around him, hugging tight.  
  
"Anything for a sister."  
  
When they finished the hug, she turned to me.  
  
"Thank you very much. If you hadn't moved when you did, we may not have gotten any kicks on them."  
  
With that said, she did the same to me, catching me off guard. We stumbled a little and I stood there while she hugged me. This was too odd. Just the other day we were close to fighting till someone was out and now she's was hugging me as though we had known each other forever.  
  
"Uh, you're welcome."  
  
I patted her back a little and she soon let go, but everyone else decided to take her turn in hugging me. Each time new arms wound around me I just stood there, unsure of exactly what was going on. Will was the last one to hug me. His hold over me was longer than the others and for some reason felt warmer. Looking over his shoulder, I noticed Marian and Sarah whispering and Jade and Leighanne showing small smirks. A cold shiver ran down my back and I pushed away, smoothing out my jacket.  
  
"Dodger, how about you ride up with us? Will and Sarah can share a horse. You take Stinger."  
  
Biting my bottom lip, I wasn't sure hot I was going to get out of this. Marian continued to speak.  
  
"Either that or you could share a horse with Will. Fire there is strong enough for two. I want us to reach Nottingham before dark. My cousin Richard is staying there for awhile and I want to say hello."  
  
Great, now I had 2 choices. Ride solely on a horse up with Marian or ride in the back with Will on his horse.  
  
"I could continue to walk."  
  
"But if you do we'll be slower. Plus I want more protection in the front. Will can cover the back easily with Sarah. You've got a quick eye and that would be a nice look out for trouble."  
  
I stared nervously at the horses and then over at Marian. She had a pleading and hopeful look mixed with the puppy eyes.  
  
'That look is going to be the death of me.'  
  
"Oh all right."  
  
The three cousins all got on their horses while Will helped Sarah up on his horse. I walked over to Stinger and stared at the mare.  
  
"Just stay where you are and I'll be fine and you'll be fine."  
  
"Hurry up Dodger."  
  
I jumped a little and shook off the nerves before grabbing a hold of the saddle horn, putting my foot in the stirrup and pulled myself up. I sat up on the horse looking around, my heart beating crazily inside my chest.  
  
'Okay, lets see if I can remember what I've been taught.'  
  
I noticed everyone watching me and feeling warm under the collar I clucked my tongue and Stinger started to move. Marian and the others followed suit and soon all five horses were starting back on their way. As we rode, neither Marian nor I really spoke. I wasn't sure her reason but mine was because I was concentrating more on the horse. I could feel Stinger breathing against the inner side of my legs and the smoothness of my trench on the outside.  
  
"So Dodger how exactly did you learn to be the way you are? Most ladies I've known are nothing like you or I."  
  
"I guess I felt more comfortable around men than I do women, no offence."  
  
"None taken. Continue."  
  
"Well I felt as though I was being put on for showing when I was younger. I decided that everything I did would be my choice. I started dressing differently and it went from there."  
  
I looked from the ears on Stinger's head to Marian, seeing her take it in.  
  
"I know how you feel. Since I was young I didn't feel as though I fit in. The only people I was truly close to were Jade, Leighanne and my other cousin Richard. Robin didn't make it very much easier when we were younger. He would tease me and bothered me so much that once he left for the Crusades, I learned how to fight. Since we got married, Robin has helped a lot in that area beside others."  
  
We laughed, knowing what other area and continue to ride listening to the chatter of those behind us until Marian spoke up again.  
  
"Did you have a suitor where you used to live?"  
  
I shook my head and finally felt well enough to keep eyes up.  
  
"No, I was always around boys so that either threw their interest off or intimidated them. Seeing a girl hang out with boys most likely makes them see only a tomboy."  
  
As soon as I said the word, Marian gave me a curious look. I explained that it was a girl who didn't act like a girl and when she understood it was my turn to return the confusion.  
  
"Why did you want to know if I had a suitor?"  
  
A small smile crept to her face, making me feel a little uneasy.  
  
"Well first, you said you were 18 right?"  
  
"18 turning 19...why?"  
  
"It's such a wonderful age."  
  
"I guess...now why did you want to know?"  
  
"Well normally I'm not one to do this, but I'm pretty sure I know someone who would love to court you."  
  
I should have seen that coming. I shook my head and turned my attention back to the road, ducking under a branch.  
  
"I don't really know anyone here though so don't think that'll work."  
  
Marian gave a laugh, one that wasn't full of falseness that I had heard many times from my mother.  
  
"I think you do."  
  
Using her head, Marian pointed back to Will and Sarah. I raised an eyebrow and shook my head. I turned my gaze back briefly then back to where we were going.  
  
"No...no way."  
  
Once again she laughed.  
  
"You may not see it, but he likes you. Why else would he have stayed back with you when you refused to ride?"  
  
"Well, he's a gentleman"  
  
A slight pause filled the air between us. Will being a gentleman? That wasn't in much of the books about him and Robin Hood. Marian shook her head.  
  
"No, he usually isn't unless towards me or my cousins. Before you came yesterday, Will would keep to himself. He would never have left his post at the river. Since your appearance, he's smiled more such as I noticed during the meals."  
  
As we rode on, I let the information sink in. Hearing the possibility of a guy actually liking me was odd. I'd always been one OF the guys.  
  
"Plus I did notice that you are wearing his shirt."  
  
I snapped my head to Marian then down to the shirt.  
  
"Yeah, I'm wearing his shirt. So what?"  
  
"Will rarely lets anyone borrow his clothes."  
  
"He didn't really have a choice... or maybe he did who knows. I was cold and he was using the blanket beneath him so he put his shirt over top of me."  
  
"Ah yes, but he could have asked for it back this morning but as we can see he hasn't."  
  
Hearing the argument Marian was giving about Will liking me was becoming more possible. I decided then that I would give him his shirt back once I was able to get some clothes of my own. A gallop was heard coming up from behind us and turning my head slightly, I saw that Will and Sarah's horse was coming up beside Marian.  
  
"Marian, how much longer do you think we will be on the road?"  
  
"Probably about another hour or so. Why?"  
  
Sarah, whom with a laugh that reminded me so much of Frenchy, smiled.  
  
"Now don't get me wrong, I love riding with Will," she patted his cheek softly "but it is getting a bit cramped on here."  
  
Marian turned her gaze to me and I turned my eyes back on the road trying hard to avoid those eyes of hers.  
  
"Would you mind switching with Sarah?"  
  
"I, uh..."  
  
Why couldn't I just say no?  
  
"Great. Let's stop up at the edge of the forest for a quick drink and Dodger, you and Sarah can switch places when we start up again."  
  
Will pulled the horse back to tell Leighanne and Jade the plan and we were soon at the edge of the woods. As all 5 horses were pulled to a stop we dismounted and while the others went off and had a drink and do their business, I stayed behind to look after the horse I had ridden. I hadn't really enjoyed the sport when I was forced to participate, but I did like hanging around the horses during spare time. I would groom them and feed them whenever there was something to spare.  
  
"Hey Stinger."  
  
I said as I ran my hand over her mane. Stinger whinnied and from the food pack on her saddle, I took a carrot out and held it up for her to eat. Her wet lips slurped up the carrot, tickling my palm. I laughed softly and went back to scratching her nose.  
  
"Interesting."  
  
I spun around, surprised to hear someone back already and saw that Will was leaning against Fire, his arm draped over his neck scratching softly.  
  
"What is?"  
  
"It's just interesting to see how much Stinger seems to like you. She normally doesn't take to strangers right away."  
  
I rolled my eyes and turned back around. My hands slide over her mane and the strong neck.  
  
"I guess I'm an exception."  
  
My ears picked up the sounds of his feet on the dirt and grass, thumping softly as they neared me and soon stopped right behind me.  
  
"Or just very similar."  
  
He leaned over my shoulder, stroked Stinger then walked back over to where Fire stood. My neck tingled slightly from the brief time his breath whispered over my skin. I gulped and after grabbing another carrot from the bag I fed it to Stinger before turning and looking to Will.  
  
"What do you mean by similar?"  
  
He didn't turn to tell me his answer, but pulled his vest off and then his shirt. From where I stood, I could see his defined shoulder blades and back muscles until he put the vest back on. Will then turned around and looked at me. His dishevelled hair looked quite good and added to the fine looks. I could see even more muscles. He didn't have a six-pack but there was a slight hint of a four. Will crossed his arms across his chest and I could see his biceps. I shook my head and focused on his face.  
  
'He may look like Christian Slater but he's only an actor...this is...who knows what this is.'  
  
He ran his hand back through his hair and locked eyes with me.  
  
"What I mean is that like Stinger, you took awhile to warm up to me or anyone. You've told me small things about yourself and so you are slowly beginning to trust."  
  
"Uh, ok...I guess but I grew up for several years around horses. I never treated them rough and if they behave they get treats."  
  
Will gave me a cocky smile as though I had just given him the secret to life. Will moved from his place at Fire and made his way towards me. From the look on his face I could tell he expected me to back away as most girls would have. I stood my place though, watching as he slowly stood over me. As he stood over me, the position reminded me of all the fights I had been in and resisted the urge to punch forwards or kick his legs out.  
  
"So you're telling me that behaviour and trust are important to you?"  
  
I nodded my head.  
  
"Behaviour comes before trust."  
  
The smile on his face grew and just as he was about to say something, Marian, Sarah, Leighanne and Jade come from their places in the bushes.  
  
"Well lets get moving. We want to make it to Nottingham before dark."  
  
The others climbed onto their horses and once Will was on his, he rode over towards me and offered his hand.  
  
"M'lady?"  
  
'Oh boy...here goes.'  
  
I took hold of his outstretched hand and he held tight to mine. On the count of three, Will hoisted me up onto the horse.  
  
"Hold tight."  
  
I knew where I had to hold and slipped my hands around his sides and felt the smoothness of his skin. Every time he breathed in my hands rose with him. I gulped and rested my head against his back and hearing his soft cluck of his tongue we started on our way. 


	10. Richard the Lionheart and Kisses Galore

A/N: To one and all I apologize for not updating sooner. Many things have come in the way of the completion of the tenth chapter. One being my new job as a photographer. With Christmas season coming fast upon us, portraits of ones family becomes needed in great demand. Plus, one of my coworkers is ill so they need me to come in more often. Another is that I have been in a production at the local college. Over the past two weeks we've been in performance and tonight was the final night. I'm sad that it is all over for many of the people that partook in the creation are not ones I see most often. I will miss them all greatly for they are a fabulous cast and crew. Now, onto the story.

Chapter Ten

Over the course of the rest of the ride, Will and I didn't say much of anything to one another. I know I slightly dozed off at one point, due to listening to him breathe and the sounds of the birds around us. Food stalls and merchant sites were the first sounds I heard as I awoke. As my eyes scanned around, I could tell we were in some kind of market place.

"Where exactly are we going?"

"Do you see that large castle up on the hill?"

I nodded my head and he went on to say that it was the castle of Nottingham. Both Robin and Marian stayed there whenever they needed to tend to village matters or it was winter. He also mentioned that due to Locksley castle being in ruins, they were staying in Marian's ancestral home until things were fixed.

"I see."

Was all I could say as the aroma of food and the colourful sights took hold of me. Seeing that my hands were still holding on around his waist, I pulled them back and held onto the back of the saddle. The clip clop of the hoofs on the drawbridge made my eyes focus on the inside of the gates, everything looking slightly similar to the movie but also very different. We rode straight up to the stables and as soon as the horse had stopped, I slipped down from the saddle, wiping the dust from my pant legs.

The look on Will's face as I looked up and he climbed down was priceless. There were hints of red beneath the vest collar, which caused my eyes to scan down over his chest briefly before I looked right back up into his eyes.

"You're never going to let me help you with anything are you? First the horse and then this."

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"I was going to get down to help you down off of Fire but instead you just slide off like a man."

"Well why should I get help for something that I obviously don't need any help with?"

A voice coming from behind me startled us both from the looks of ice we were giving one another.

"Aww, a lovers quarrel. Look how they're standing toe to toe about to kiss."

Turning on my heel, I looked and saw that Jade, Leighanne and Sarah were all standing back a bit with soft smirks on their faces. I rolled my eyes and ran a hand through my hair.

"Stuff it."

"Will you be quiet?"

Will and I said at the same time which only made the girls start to laugh and make kissy noises. My fist started to tighten as Marian walked over to us from her horse.

"Richard's inside……what happened here?"

"Nothing." (Will and I)

"Quarrel of Lovers." (Jade, Leighanne, Sarah)

"Ah would you three just shut up." That time it was solely me who spoke since Marian and Will were both starting to laugh as the other three got startled looks.

"You four fight as if you're friends and have been for a long time."

I walked from my place by Will to where Marian stood.

"Believe me; I've dealt with friends like this before. All in good fun but fun is over… Shall we head on in? I want to meet this infamous Richard the Lionheart."

A spark came to Marian's eyes as she took my arm and led me away from the other four towards the castle doors.

"I can't wait to tell him of you. You deserve to meet him after today's events."

The two of us disappeared from the courtyard into the main hall. As we walked, I caught Marian taking several glances my way. It wasn't like I wasn't used to it. But since I arrived…no one had done that.

"What?"

"I was just wondering if we should change before seeing Richard. For women to come before a kin with trousers, ever riding ones on can be highly unorthodox… Yes, I think we'll change before saying hello."

My jaw dropped at how fast she made up her mind. For one, I didn't really like the way her mind was working and another thing was that I had nothing even if I did want to change. For some reason, she seemed to read my mind.

"I can probably lend you a dress. We're about the same size."

A dress? No frickin way. The last time I wore one it was not a pretty experience.

"I think maybe I'll stick with my pa… trousers. I'd be more comfortable in them. Plus they are who I am. A dress really isn't."

From the look on Marian's face, it seemed as though she was going to oppose to my decision, but she surprised me.

"All right, it may be better idea to have you as you are rather than someone you're not. This way, you get to show him that you are different. Of course seeing you and Will side by side in trousers will likely put Richard into shock…but he should be used to it by now."

I let out a sigh of relief as we turned down the hallway to her and Robin's chamber. The stone walls were warm browns and reds, not the dreary grays that you would see in movies. Once we arrived, we saw that there was already a dress laid out on the bed with accessories on the dresser. The dress was similar to the color of her trousers. A deep blue was the base color with strips of pale blue material outlining the hem of the skirt. Light in weight while material made up the sleeps that were attached to thick shoulder straps.

While I waited in the main room and Marian changed quickly, a servant took my trench coat from me, saying that she would put it in my chambers for me. When Marian had finished and came back out, she braided her hair and would a pale blue ribbon in with her hair. To straighten up my appearance, I ran my hand through my hair, retied the belt about my waist and straightened the top underneath the leather. When I was sure that I was presentable, I looked to Marian and saw that she had slightly wide eyes.

"What?"

"Oh, it's just that I've never seen someone work so quickly into making their appearance presentable for Richard." I shrugged.

"I don't put a full emphasis on my looks."

"You should. With my experience of looks, being that I'm older than you, guys like it."

With that last comment, Marian winked with a sly grin across her face. I rolled my eyes and groaned. Seeing the disgruntled look on my face, Marian laughed and led me out the door.

"Lets go."

Heading down the hallway, we were soon joined by Jade, Leighanne and Sarah whom all walked behind us. We stopped in front of a set of large doors and Sarah moved by us and into the room to announce the rest of us. She would leave my name out so that Marian would introduce me to her cousin. Several minutes later, Sarah came back to lead us in. One by one we filled into the room going Marian, Jade, Sarah, Leighanne and finally me.

Jade's dress was an emerald green while Leighanne's was that of pale rose. Those two were familiar in so many ways, but also so very different. As we entered, my eyes looked around and saw that the windows had dusty red curtains draping over the sides and the floor a little. A grand desk stood against the wall across from the doors. From what I could see behind the others, there was a man standing with his back to us. The shirt he wore showed the broadness of his shoulders, the leanness since the edges of the shirt slightly billowed over the waistline of his pants.

"Ah, Marian, it's good to see you cousin. Jade, Leighanne I see that you both are well."

I watched as the person who spoke stood from the desk and walked around to meet his cousins. It then hit me that this was Richard the Lionheart. When I caught a full glance of the man, I was shocked. I shouldn't have been seeing as everyone else had taken on the looks of people from Sherwood. Richard looked like both Mr. Kloppman from English and Sean Connery who played Richard in the movie.

"I take it this is the person whom Will was referring to. He didn't do her justice. Come forward child."

I snapped out of my trance on Richard to notice that the well groomed man happened to be Will. He had cleaned up very nicely. Heeding him, I walked towards Richard past his cousins.

"Neither my cousins, Will nor Sarah have said what your name is. Pray tell, what is it?"

Bowing slightly I said,

"The name is Dodger."

""Dodger…hmmm… Not a bad name. I take it you live up to your name? (I nodded) Yes. Will told me of how you came upon them in the forest and also of today's little adventure. I would like to give you my thanks."

I gave a weak smile.

"Your, uh, welcome."

"Well now, let's go down to the dining hall and have a bite to eat. I'm sure you are all famished from the ride and are hungry for a good meal."

Taking the lead with Marian on his arm, Richard led the small party out the doors we had come in to the dining hall. Jade and Leighanne followed behind with Sarah right behind them. Will stayed back and offered his arm to me as Richard had with Marian. I stared from his arm to his face and started to walk out of the room to follow the others. I heard a grunt of disapproval behind me and heard the footsteps catch up with me.

"You know you need to change your attitude, especially if you're around here. The forest is alright, but you're in front of royalty… show some respect."

I stopped suddenly and watched as the others moved into the dining room, closing the door behind them briefly forgetting about us. Remembering where the door was, I turned on my foot and stared up at Will. His arms were loose at his sides, something I had learned always meant the person didn't find me a threat.

"What do you mean change my attitude? I know I'm around royalty but this way has suited me fine for nearly nineteen years… okay, maybe ten."

Will's features tightened and I caught sight of his arms tensing slightly. I kept my stance firm but loose.

"One point you're a brick wall while the next you're like an ajar door. You hear a little and see a little into the room that is you. Then when something bothers you, you slam the door shut again."

"Listen bud, it's who I am. If you don't like it then fine. But I'm not changing just because someone I met a day ago told me to." Will looked at me.

"From the way you act, it's like you don't want to let the world in. You're just happy with what you've got."

"I am happy. No parents ordering to be like them, an Aunt who thinks I should go for my dreams and four friends who care for me on the inside. I act as I do and that's fine with me."

I hadn't realized that my voice had gotten increasingly louder until the hall was filled with a soft echo. Those who had gone in before us were now standing at the door, complete unnoticed by Will and I. We were two volcanoes ready to blow.

"Well more people could be added to that list if you'd just open up. People do want to get to know you. You're spirit intrigues them. Most women don't have strong right hooks unless you've been taught by an expert."

"Please tell me you're going somewhere with all this because you're wasting a lot of hot air."

Once again, a discouraging scowl came across his face.

"Right there… You say snide remarks that keep all others away. What I'm trying to say is that let up on the remarks and the attitude. It doesn't flatter you at all."

With that final remark, Will stepped close to me and pressed his lips to mine. I stood there in shock and watched as he pulled away. A smug look was in place of the frustration. The bruise I had given him just the day before was bringing up nice colors to his face. His eyes danced a little, looking as though he believed that with the no words or screaming from me, I had liked it. He had another thing coming. Once must ask before taking. Bringing my arm back I swung out with my right fist again and hit him over his jaw. This would add to the already lovely colors later on.

"Actions speak louder than words."

Was all I said as I walked away towards the dining hall. Marian, Fade, Leighanne and Sarah rushed passed me to aid Will, making sure that he was okay. I continued on my way inside and started pacing back and forth fuming.

"That was a nice swing you did back there. I must say Will deserved that. No one deserves that if they've only been known for one day."

My heartbeat started to return to normal and I turned to look at Richard. I had only met this man ten minutes ago and he'd known Will longer, but here he was praising my hitting the idiot.

"Don't worry about him. He's been through worse and has the help from my cousins. Knowing them, they'll baby him until he kicks them out. Now, let's sit and eat and you can tell me your side of all the events so far."

Richard led the way over to the table and I followed, reminding myself that I'd have to watch the way I said certain things. Sitting down, we talked of different things as the food was set out in front of us by servants. When he would ask something I felt uncomfortable about, he wouldn't pressure me to answer but changed the subject. We'd been sitting there for awhile before the ladies joined us. Will was no where to be found. Marian explained to us as she and the others sat.

"You hit him pretty hard that the bruise that came up darkened the one you'd already left him. He was also embarrassed by your reaction to the kiss. He's been trying to figure out how to express his feelings towards you and the kiss sprang to his mind. He decided to go back to his room to avoid any more humiliation."

A feeling slowly came over me and took over my train of thought briefly. The feeling of humiliating a guy was very familiar. Who knows how many times I had actually done that. As for hearing that Will had feelings for me? That was definitely new. I pushed it aside though, thinking that it must have been some kind of joke.

We ate our dinner, my thoughts concentrating on the food and conversations around me rather than on what Marian had said before. As we finished, I asked if I could take a plate back with me in case I got hungry during the night. I also mentioned how I didn't want to get lost during the night trying to find the kitchens. Everyone laughed and Richard had someone make a plate up for me. One by one, we each left the table and with the help from a servant, I made my way to what was to be my room.

Walking down the hallway, I noticed several pictures and statures. There was one picture of Robin and Marian. The caption read, "One year of Bliss." Their faces were turned towards one another and I shook my head, catching up with the young lady. As the end of the hall came closer, it hit me that no one else was coming this way.

"Are the others staying nearby?"

"Oh no, Lady Marian is staying in her and Master Robin's room in the north hall. Maids Jade, Leighanne and Sarah stay in the south hall."

"Where am I staying then?"

"Master Richard recommended that you stay in the West hall since you love to be inspired."

I hadn't realized that we'd gotten to my room and ended up bumping into the servant.

"Oops, sorry."

"It's all right miss, no harm done. Here are your quarters. If you need anything just pull the rope by the bed."

I thanked her and watched her move down the hallway and finally out of sight. Entering my room, the first sight of it took my breath away. A tall closet took up most of the far wall while a bed took up the other. A fire place shared the wall with the closet and hand incredible carvings on the stone and wood. Focusing on the wall with the window, I saw that there was a candle sitting on a desk to the right of it. A quill took its rightful place in an ink pot and there were several sheets of paper laid out beside it.

"Wow…"

A table was off to the right side of the grand bed and so I walked over, placing the plate of food onto it. Deciding to see how comfortable the bed was, I jumped up and landed on the plush material. Everything was so plush and comfortable that I laid my head back and closed my eyes.

"Writing first…then sleep."

I pushed myself up off the bed and took my trench coat from its place at the foot of the bed where the servant had placed it. Pulling from the pocket I brought out my writing book and laid back on the bed again, writing in on the new pages the events of the past two days.

As I got to the point about fighting against the men who were after Marian, my stomach started to grumble. Laughing to myself, I tucked the book under one of the pillows slightly and pulled the food plate onto my lap. Picking up the bread, a knock interrupted my eating. I sat the bread back down and moved from my place on the bed. Setting the plate back on the end table, I walked to the door and opened the wood to see Will standing there looking like Patches from 101 Dalmatians. I started to laugh a bit, but caught myself in time.

"Oh… hey Will."

"Hey. Mind if I come in for a bit."

"Sure."

As he walked in, I bit my lower lip to hold in any of the laugh and closed the door behind him. When I turned around, I saw that Will was sitting on the bed with my book in his hands. Watching him start to open it, my reflexes kicked into gear and I moved forward.

"Uh… can I have that back please?"

I reached forward and tried to grab the book from him but Will noticed my movement quickly. He stood up and held it just out of my reach. With him being taller than me, he was able to hold it just so. Each time I tried to jump for my book he'd just move it to his other hand.

"Why don't you want me to read this?"

"It's private. You do know what that means right?"

"Oh, I know what it means; I just want to know why you're so worked up about me reading it. You're red in the face already. There must be something important in here."

With a sly look, he turned his eyes down to the book and I noticed his shoulders relax a little more. I smirked a bit, seeing that his guard was down. I made a quick movement, grabbing the book and started moving over the bed to get away. Before I could get very far, Will grabbed onto my foot making me fall forward onto my stomach. With a quick flip, I moved onto my back hoping to get off the bed before he could take the book.

I was about to get up from the plush bed, but Will pinned me down and looked at me with his chocolate brown eyes. An embarrassed look came over his face and a hint of red came up through the shiner.

"Uh, are you g…" before I could finish the sentence, Will moved down for another kiss. I didn't know why, but this time I didn't go for the anger bit. I felt his lips press against mine. Soft, caressing mine gently before moving to my cheek, jaw and soon my neck. I realized that things were going too far too fast and now was a time to stop. What Marian had said was now proven true…or at least this gave some proof. I took my hands and pushed against his chest. My gaze was met by a questioning one from Will.

"What?"

"This is going a bit far, I mean, I just met you yesterday."

I watched as the questioning look turned to one of hurt. Seeing the look of hurt on his face made me feel guilty. As he moved from on top of me, I sat up and moved myself and my book from the bed to the closet space. I slipped the papers into the trench coat that had fallen to the floor in my hope of escape and hanged it up. I turned back to him and my eyes spotted the plate of food.

"Are you hungry? You didn't eat with us and I ended up getting an extra plate of food from the cook."

Will looked from me to the food and on cue his stomach started to grumble. Laughing I moved to the side table and took the plate. Breaking the bread, I passed him a piece before chomping down on the other. After he finished with everything else, Will started to pick at the piece of bread.

"So, uh, how do you like your room?"

"It's kind of like my old room. Great view and everything."

"Ya, I've got the same view from my window. Wait till you see the sunrise; it's beautiful."

"Where is your room?"

"Next door. I heard you and the servant coming down the hallway. I 8didn't want to come here right away in fear that you'd a) hurt me again and b) I was still embarrassed about earlier."

"Well you had caught me off guard and tried to silence my anger with a kiss. My only thought at the time was revenge. Normally my way of revenge is that by a fist."

"Did Marian tell you about me?"

I nodded. An uncomfortable silence came over the two of us. I needed to get some well deserved sleep but wanted to write in the book first. I looked out the window and saw that the sun had started to set.

"Will? Do you think you could leave? I don't mean to be rude, but I'm exhausted."

"Oh, I understand. I think I'll get some as well."

I could hear a hint of hurt and humiliation in his voice and guilt racked over me yet again. I watched as he stood from his place and moved to the doorway. He took the handle in hand and pulled, open the door. He turned back to me.

"Good nigh m'lady. I hope you have pleasant dreams."

With those parting words he turned and walked out of the room closing the door behind him. I took a deep breath, feeling my heart thunder against my chest. Rather than doing the writing as I though I would do, the plush bed looked all to welcoming. Walking over, I crawled up under the covers and once the goose feather pillows touched my head I fell asleep.

A/N: Once again I thank those of you who have been very patient for this chapter to come. Times have been very stressful for me as of late and typing this out has helped a little. Shout out to those who have reviewed and thanks to my boyfriend for giving me some inspiration. Disclaimer for any of the characters that are from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Newsies or to friends of mine who have lent me their names.


	11. Birthday Parties

**Chapter Eleven**

Waking up the next morning, I saw that the sun had already risen. Back home, I had often woken at least once before going back to sleep but here, I had slept the entire night away. Pushing aside the covers, I went over to the closet. Inside the wooden area were several skirts, shirts and dresses- there was not one pair of pants in sight.

"Oh great and after two days in these things, I cannot stay in them for another day. I wonder if Will has any."

I murmured softly to myself.

"After last night, are you sure you want to deal with him? At least right now?"

My conscience piped up and I knew that was right. Finally, staring at the clothes, I decided that I would go and see if I could find Marian. Moving for the washstand, I quickly changed out of my shirts and grabbed one from the wardrobe. Washing up, I soon changed into the newer shirt and moved all of my things in with the trench coat. Once I was sure everything was set I made my way out into the hallway. Standing there, I tried to remember the way back to the dining hall. I would hopefully meet up with someone who knew where to find Marian. Visualizing last night, I remembered the picture of Robin and Marian on their anniversary.

"So left it is."

I made sure that my room's door was closed and soon started down the hallway. The different pictures and statues were becoming familiar so when I passed a statue I didn't remember, I figured that I had gone too far. Stopping where I was, I focused on the pictures around and realized that I must have walked right past the crossing hallway.

"Why must I get lost in this place?"

As I stood and tried to decide whether or not I should turn around and retrace my steps, I remembered what I used to do when I got lost- spin and point. Placing one hand over my eyes, I spun around on my left foot until I got dizzy and stopped. Facing the direction I had stopped in, I waited till the sick feeling in my stomach left before I opened my eyes. Knowing my luck, as soon as I removed my hand the queasiness set in again. Taking a step, I tripped over my own feet and landed on my butt. Sitting there, I couldn't help but start to laugh.

"Whoa……that was fun."

"You are a strange girl, I'll give you that."

Opening my eyes, I saw Leighanne standing in front of me. Putting a small smile on my lips, I waved a little bit.

"Hello… would you by any chance know which hall I'm down? I got lost."

Taking Leighanne's outstretched hand, she helped me to stand and I leaned against a wall to steady myself and wait until my stomach stopped flopping around.

"You're in the East Hall. I was coming back down here to get some things from my old room when I saw you spin around and fall. Exactly why did you do that?"

"Went too far and was trying to decide which way to go. I used to decide things like that when I was younger."

Leighanne laughed and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear.

"You make sense now. Jade and I used to do similar things when we were younger and wanted to have adventures around our home."

I looked at Leighanne and saw how much she reminded me of Pebbles. Whenever Pebbles and Elf had been together, they had often been hyper like, making quick comments and sometimes not fully paying attention to what they said. When they were apart though, both were actually relatively calm and understandable.

"Do you want me to give you a hand? Jade went off with Marian and Sarah to get goods from town and I couldn't find Will anywhere."

"Okay, if you can help me find some pants. The only ones I have are the ones I'm wearing. Plus I'm not into wearing dresses or skirts anytime soon."

Leighanne smiled and nodded her head.

"I can definitely help you out there. Before it became disrespectable for us to wear pants, we'd use to wear them for fighting practice around the castle."

I smiled and said that my bearings were better now. The two of us moved on down the hallway and as we did, I saw several pictures of Marian with other people.

"When were these done?"

"When Marian was much younger. The picture over there of the young boy is of Robin. He made her life a living hell, always teasing her. I was surprised when they got married. But she's happy and I'm glad. Robin has brought into her life a lot of joy."

We continued to walk down the hallway and soon came to a door very similar to mine. There was a fine brass handle that looked slightly old.

"Here's my old room. Marian wanted Jade and I closer since there are too many rooms and one could get lost, like you did. We'll only be a few minutes."

Opening the door, I was led into a room filled with the color of rose. Draperies were the same color as her dress the day before except that a deeper red was used to embroider the flowers on them. Pine end tables took place of the chesterfield. From where I stood, the desk and bed frames both looked to be made of solid oak. Leighanne moved over to her closet area and pulled out several pairs of pants and tossed them over to where I stood.

"These should fit you alright. Now to find my sewing I left here before going to the camp 3 months ago. I can't seem to remember where I put it though. Do you think you could give me a hand in finding it?"

Since she was lending me some of her pants, I figured that I might as well. Nodding, I placed the pants on the bed and started to search around.

"You know, I am glad that I wasn't able to find him. The sweing is actually fore his birthday coming up."

"Ah, 20 right?"

"Yes, how did you get that out of him? It took Jade and I several months before we could extract that piece of information."

As we looked around the room, I explained to her the question/answer game that Will and I had done the day I arrived. Looking under the cushion of her window seat, I found the sewing but also caught a weird look over her face. One that made her look like she was concentrating way too hard on something so easy. I walked over to where she stood and handed the sewing over before gathering the pants up.

"Speaking of birthdays, when is yours?"

Caught unaware to the words of the question, I focused to make sure the pants were in good condition. I mindlessly answered the question like I was answering Gus or Spike.

"May 10th, in two days."

"That's amazing!"

I snapped back into reality and realized what I had said. Biting back a groan, I looked to her face.

"Why is it amazing?"

'Please don't say what I think you're going to say.' I prayed silently to myself.

"Well in two days it just happens to be Will's birthday as well. Robin, Little John, Azeem, Bull, Much, Friar Tuck, Fanny, Wulf and a few others will be heading up here to the castle to celebrate. I know! We could celebrate yours as well."

This time I let the groan out. I figured this was going to happen and this was not what I wanted.

"No thanks. No celebrating for me. While you guys party, I'll just stay up in my room. Parties aren't my sort of thing."

Unfortunately, Leighanne must have had selective hearing because she grinned from ear to ear. She must have focused on 'Parties…my sort of thing.'

"Come on, we must go and see if Maria is back yet. There is some more planning to be done and you're going to need a dress for the occasion."

Leighanne left the room mumbling one thing or another about dresses. I followed behind and when we made it to the hallway leading to the dining hall, I just continued on my way back to my room. All the talk about dresses for this celebration made me think of when I turned sixteen. My mother had this whole idea of a sweet sixteen party- me in a puffy pale pink dress, all my parent's friend's kids being asked to come. Though it was my party or rather my mom's party, no one really talked to me. They said hello when they first arrived but after that, they would stick with their real friends.

I rolled my eyes at the rememberance of how I got into the pink dress. I hadn't any idea that my mother had planned the 'event' so when I went for a shower, my mom switched clothes that I had chosen to hang out with my friends in with the dress. It wasn't like I could go out into the hall with nothing but a towel on.

Halfway through the party, I ended up getting a call on the cell phone that had appeared in my trench. Gus and Spike had hidden it there as an early birthday present. Somehow they had overheard about the party from some of the kids at school and knew that I would need saving. I snuck out through the garage where my friends were waiting in an alley that was just off the backyard. Once I got to the car, there were two presents waiting for me in the back seat. Gus's was that of a writing book with my picture etched into it and Spike ended up getting me the Queen's Greatest Hits albums. Another thing that they combined together to by me was some new clothing. They suited me perfectly. They were black baggy jeans and a white top. Across the chest had all my favorite bands in felt tip marker.

Spike drove us to the closes gas station to where I snuck into the change room. Coming out, I dumped the dress into the trunk and then off to the Firehouse till 3am. When I got back my parents had been in bed long before and hadn't even noticed I was gone. They just assumed that I had gone out with a 'friend from the party.' We had cut the cake an hour before I snuck out and I knew I wouldn't be opening any of the presents till the next day.

Focusing back to the party plans that were now being formed around me……and yeah that of Will, I tired to figure out how I could get out of the mess. In the room, I took the pants and tried them on. Four out of five fit and were loose enough for my liking. Going through the shirts that were in the closet area, I found several colors that went nicely with the pants. Those that matched I folded and placed together so that I wouldn't misplace them. The brown pair that had fit but weren't as loose were the ones that I decided I'd change into. There was a green shirt and went well with the pants and I also noticed that there was a brown vest in the closet.

"At least they have some decent clothing now adays……or is it back then? Anyways, now all I have to do is get out of wearing a dress."

Changing the clothes, I ran my fingers through my hair quickly and looking in the mirror I found that I was reasonably presentable.

"Now to get this dress idea out of Leighanne's head."

I made sure everything was set in the closet and decided to hang the trench in the far corner just in case a servant came to gather the other worn clothing. I didn't want to worry about them finding my writing book and reading over the words, if they could read at all. The clothing that I had originally arrived in was put with the ones needed to be cleaned, figuring it was a good idea that they needed to be washed.

Leaving the room with determination, I made my way back to the dining hall. It was sort of strange though, that the only person I had seen so far this morning was Leighanne, and there was supposed to be several tens of servants. Unlike the last time when I went straight through, I remembered the hall Leighanne had turned down. Doing likewise, I made my way to the soon familiar doorway and could soon hear the lively chatter.

"Marian, there you are. We need to talk."

The voice sounded like Leighanne and I needed to get to her first to tell her I did not plan on partaking in any of the festivities. Especially if it was to mean me in a dress. Opening the door, I soon saw the tens of servants I thought to be in the castle busy putting up decorations. Blue and red flowers and banners were either being carried or hung up. At the far wall, I could see Leighanne talking with Marian. She caught sight of me entering and pointed my way with excitement.

"Oh brother."

The next thing I knew, Leighanne was dragging both Jade and her cousun towards me. All of them had mischievous looks on their faces.

"Oh no. There is no way. None at all."

"Oh yes you are. Women never wear trousers to balls or grand festivities. They always wear dresses." Marian said with a hint of excitement in her voice.

"I haven't worn a dress since I was sixteen. I find then unnerving and annoying to walk in. There is no way that I will wear one." Leighanne started to give me the puppy eyes.

"But it is your birthday. Don't you want to feel special on this grand day?"

This was no time to cave in. I needed to stand tall, stay firm and I wouldn't give in.

"No. I'm not joining the festivities or wearing a dress. I'm staying in my room until everything is finished and staying in my trousers."

Silently I congratulated myself for staying firm. All three of their faces seemed to fall and from the looks of it were going to leave my decision alone until Jade caught sight of someone behind me. Her eyes seemed to perk up and I knew from the look that this was far from being over.

"Richard… could you come and settle an argument for us?"

Great, just great. This was all that I needed. Jade started waving and turning, I saw King Richard coming to wards us. Turning back to look at the other three, all of their faces were lighting us. I had won the battle but was soon to lose the war. Richard came up to us and stopped beside me, nodding to his cousins.

"What can I do for you ladies?"

Jade gave me a smirk.

"As you know, Will's birthday is coming up in two days time. Well Leighanne found out that Dodger's is the same day."

I heard an intake of breath and warily looked towards him. There was a surprise look on his face as though he was shocked that I had kept my birthday a secret from him. Well, technically I hadn't; no one had asked me when it was. Jade continued.

"Well we want her to join in the party but she doesn't want to. She won't ever wear a dress so that we can all celebrate the date of her birth."

Oh brother, that was getting just to be too much.

"This won't do. I know you had not wanted to join in the party Lady Dodger, but when a ball or event is held, all the guests are insisted to come. Men in their best pants and vests while women in their best dresses. They are not considered a guest if they show up in trousers. Also seeing as it will be your birth date, it is also important that you come."

'Damn it! I had told the three of them that I didn't want to go, didn't want to wear a dress and nearly succeeded. Why must I be forced into this? I hate being forced, especially into dresses.' I angrily said to myself.

I looked to Richard and was about to argue with him when he started to speak again.

"I'm sure that my cousins will give you a hand in finding a dress. They've got a ton in those closets of theirs. Now if you'llexcuse me, I'll be tending to some things in the study."

Giving each of us a nod, Richard turned about and left me with three grinning idiots and them one pissed off Dodger. Marian and Jade both took hold of one of my arms.

"Come now, we must find you a dress. Leighanne can continue with the decorating. She'll meet us in your chamber later."

With those final words said they started to tug me to the door. I dug my heels in and outside the door was able to pull them to a halt.

"Do not think that I'll be all happy by the time this is all over. I stated how I hated to wear dresses and you two are no better than some idiots in thinking that just because a man said I had to I'll enjoy it... I've gone through this crap before so just watch your backs."

The two of them stood there in front of me, shocked that I said stuff like that. With a bit of a growl, I pushed past them moving to my room and hoping to have some piece of mind for a few minutes I closed the door as hard as I could and plopped myself down in a chair. Ten minutes or so later, the three idiots as I had named them in my head came in. Leighanne seemed to have a disapproving look to her face but I didn't much care. I was too ticked off. I crossed my arms and stayed firm in the seat.

"Well, now lets us see what dresses we can find in here."

Marian said, her voice sounding a little hurt with what I had said before to her. I just kept my eyes unfocused on anything around me and ignored the bustling sounds of dress materials. Cautiously, I did notice Jade coming towards me.

"Listen, we are sorry, but it is your birthday and you should really celebrate it. Just and hour or so, that is all you would have to be there for. After that, you can go on back to your room. I can make sure you get there without any fuss."

I looked to Jade's eyes and saw that she was very sincere about it.

"Alright, but only an hour and a half."

A smile returned to Jade's lips as she moved behind me to start fussing with my hair. Over and over she swept it up away from my face, trying to do different hairstyles. I could tell she was slowly becoming aggravated since small wisps kept falling down from her hold. The pieces were just too short for her to keep them up. As she dealt with my hair, I felt a little bad for what I had said to her, forgetting that she had been the one to put Richard on my case.

"Ah ha! Found one."

Jade dropped my hair and I took that opportunity to get up from the seat. We both looked to where Leighanne and Marian stood. In Marian's hands was a deep red dress, almost the color of blood. 'Think of an excuse!' My brain screamed.

"Isn't that uh, the color you usually wear?"

My eyes looking to Leighanne then back to the dress.

"Usually yes, but I'll be wearing a gold dress this time and Marian will be wearing her usual blue."

"And I'll be wearing a silver one."

Jade's voice commented from beside me. I wasn't going to get out of this. Marian walked over to me with a smile on her face and held the dress up against me.

"Perfect. How about you go change into this so that we can see if this actually fits and we won't need to do any alterations."

Before I could say anything, she handed me the dress and pushed me towards the change area that I hadn't really noticed before. I just thought it was another closet. If Richard hadn't ordered this, I would have tried to get rid of the dress as fast as I possibly could. Maybe burn it, tear it, throw it out the window. Anything that was possible.

"You need any help Dodger?"

A voice came from the other side of the door.

"I'm doing fine."

I called back as I slipped my pants and top off. Gathering the dress together, I pulled it on over my head. I found the sleeve holes and soon it hung on my body. My only problem though, was that my undershirt showed up around the neckline. Grumbling, I quickly pulled the dress off, slipped the undershirt off and pulled the dress back on. Luckily enough I didn't need any pieces of string to be tied up and so taking a deep breath, I opened the door and stepped out in front of the girls. All their faces looked like lights on a Christmas tree.

"You look great!"

"I feel like a china doll put out for everyone's display."

Leighanne took hold of my arm and pulled me away from the doorway to the centre of the room. Placing her hands on her hips she looked me dead in the eye.

"Twirl."

Her demanding voice rang through the room. I bit back my comment and did so, growling softly under my breath.

"Well, we'll have to do something about your hair, but that dress does look good on you. Better than it ever did on me."

I rolled my eyes.

"Well I'm getting changed."

Before any of them could say a word about wanting to see something, I moved right back into the room, closing the door. Behind the wood, I pulled the dress off and tossed it onto a nearby chair. With the dreadful thing finally off, I pulled my undershirt back on and then my other clothes. Grabbing the dress, I came out and handed it over to Marian and walked out of the room hearing a few steams of argument from the others. I wasn't interested in hearing any more plans of the combined birthdays. I was debating on either staying in my room or going out and exploring the castle without a tour guide.

Seeing that those three were in my room, exploring was the next best choice. Rather than turning towards the dining hall and going from there, I went right outside my door and down the hallway to some spiral stairs. Dark and foreboding, this was going to be interesting.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters that have to do with the Robin Hood tale. I do own partial rights to Jade and Leighanne and Ice owns the characterization of Marian/Ice. All others that you do not recognize from the Newsies or Robin Hood belong to me. Thank you to all those who have been patient in waiting for the next chapter. Been a little busy with several plays and with my hectic life through work. Keep reviewing. I'll try to make the next chapter come a little faster.


	12. Mmmm Food with the horses

**Chapter Twelve (In reality it should be)**

A/N: Sorry for the delay. Boss got sick and I had to take over majority of her shifts. So I do not own familiar Robin Hood characters or any Newsie references. I do own Dodger and those that you do not recognize. My friends gave me power over the ones that are based after them… muhahahahaha. Okay, so on with the story.

I descended down the stairs and with each step I could feel the dampness settling in. The coldness reminded me of the nights after rainfall back home. A type of coolness that would seep into your skin and chill you right down to the bone if you were bothered easily. I had often spent many of those type of nights either walking the streets or standing around in my backyard. Neither of my parents paid attention or rather, they checked on me once and then went to bed themselves.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I found myself in a dim lighted room. Straw was scattered on the floor and I could hear the soft pitter patter of rat's feet scurrying along the walls. Taking a deep breath I moved onwards rather than getting scared and doing a u-turn to head back up. Hanging on the wall was a lit torch and carefully taking the light from the wall, I moved out the doorway of the small room into a hallway. The atmosphere of the hallway slowly created an idea for a story and the setting. But of course, I had forgotten the notebook in the bedroom with the chatterboxes.

"If only you had remembered your trench coat. No coldness and the story could be written down." I muttered to myself, hearing a few mice or rats scurry past me on the floor, heading to the small room. Looking up down the hall, I could see another light bouncing towards me. A little startled to be finding someone down here, I stopped and waited for the person to come to me, ready if there was any trouble.

"Who's there?" I called out.

The light continued towards me but the carrier didn't respond to my question. My grip tightened around the base of the torch and my eyes narrowed a little to concentrate on the possible fight ahead. Seconds passed by and my grip relaxed as the person or rather child came closer. My narrowed eyes turned into smiling ones as a small smile slipped across my lips. The child coming towards me was Wulf.

"Kid, what are you doing here? I thought or rather was told that you and everyone else were coming in tomorrow."

"My Pa said I could come a day early since I was getting under everyone's feet at the camp. I always look forward to Will's birthday celebrations. They are so much fun. This year I even get to stay up later than usual."

His face was a giant beam of happiness at the idea of staying up with the adults. I also saw a sparkle in Wulf's eye when he spoke of Will. This kid looked like he admired Will more than anyone else in the world. The child innocence and hope in his eyes reminded me of Les and how he looked up to Jack and Specs a lot, that is from what I could tell from a distance.

"M'lady…"

"Call me Dodger kid. Hearing myself being called a m'lady is strange."

I caught a small chuckle from Wulf as he pushed strands of hair from his eyes.

"Okay Dodger."

The look on his face was priceless. Saying Dodger gave him the look as though he was trying to speak a foreign language. I gave a small smile and figured out that he must not be used to calling women by their names.

"What would you like Wulf?"

"Oh, right. I was wondering why you were down here? Normally the only ones who use this passage way are Robin, the servants, Will or myself when I'm visiting the castle."

"After a torture session with Jade and Marian, I decided to check out the place. You know, get a feel for my surroundings. Do you think you can keep a secret?" Wulf nodded, his eyes sparkling even more at being entrusted with the secret. I leaned a little closer to him as though I were going to whisper to him so that even the walls and rats couldn't hear.

"Of course I can."

"Well, at least for today and early tomorrow when everyone else arrives. They will all find out from Marian sooner or later, but I plan on hiding out in my room until then."

Watching the eagerness in Wulf's face, I felt that I could tell him everything about the birthday bit and not have to worry about him making a fuss.

"First, where does this corridor lead to?"

"The stables."

"I want to explore the grounds. How about you come with me and I'll explain as much of the secret to you that I can before everyone else finds out."

The glow from the torches on Wulf's face couldn't match the glow in his eyes as he about turned and walked with me down the corridor to the stables. As we walked, I told Wulf of being forced to wear a dress for the celebration coming up in the next couple of days.

"But why don't you want to dress up? It's a special occasion for Will and everyone, even us children dress up."

"Well, an odd coincidence is that the date just so happens to be my birthday as well. They're planning a joint celebration. Besides, I've never been one for putting on airs and dressing up to the nines. I like my clothing and would much rather wear this. Plus, when you're trying to fight someone, having billowing material around your ankles doesn't help."

"You're birthday! That's a grand event. How old are you going to be?"

"19."

I watched a sly look creep across his face just as I had seen on the others when they heard my age.

"You're not betrothed to someone are you?" I rolled my eyes.

"No I'm not and don't go and try to get Will and me together. Jade and those other two clothing maniacs are already trying to plan that by getting me all dressed up. Now, let's go check out the horses. The most look I got was a little time rubbing Stinger down after our trip. Are there any carrots in the stables that we could feed them with?"

"No, but we could make a quick stop at a stall."

Wulf started running down the hall and not wanting to get lost, I started chasing after him. I could hear the boy laughing but it soon became quiet, all except for my footsteps on the cobble stone. Ahead of me, I saw that the end of the hall had a doorway which was wide open. Sunlight touched the entry stones gracefully and lit up more of the space as I neared. Getting to the door and after pushing it open a little wider, I couldn't see Wulf anywhere. Nickering of the horses mixed with the light sounds of the people outside. I stepped in a little farther.

"Wulf?"

"Boo!"

Jumping in my spot, I did a spin kick only to find that there was no one or anything for it to connect with. Once both my feet were firmly on the ground, I saw Wulf sitting behind me. His eyes showed a hint of fear but also exhilaration.

"Kid, you are lucky I didn't hit you."

I reached out my hand and with his in mine; I hoisted him up to his feet. He dusted the dirt away from his pants and looked to me.

"When I saw you jump, I got this odd feeling that I should get down quick. I guess with watching you fight against both Will and Marian, I knew better than to stay in place for any possible hits."

I smiled at the kid. He was reminding me more and more of Les each day. He was also a quick learner which was good else he'd likely have been put out flat on his back.

"Not many people have been able to duck that kick…shows that you have good eyesight. But enough of that… lets go find those stalls. These horses look hungry for a good snack."

In response, Stinger and Fire both whinnied causing the young boy and I to laugh. He led the way out of the stable, leading me to the stall. The carrots looked better than any I had ever seen before. The color was rich as was the size of them.

"Perfect."

I automatically reached for my back pocket but remembered that my wallet wouldn't be back there. That it hadn't even come with me to the past. Putting my hands on my hips trying to figure out what to do, I felt something hard against my palm. Sure enough as I checked, there was a small pouch sewn into the pants that had a few coins inside. Smiling to the merchant, I handed them over and also bought an apple for Wulf's horse.

Back at the stables, we fed our horses and soon just stood around talking about the horses and his life at the camp. He told me about the fights that had happened, even told me about when he had been caught by the Sheriff of Nottingham. I feigned surprise at the certain events said. Having seen the movie I knew all of them already. A meal time must have arrived for both of our stomachs started to growl, causing the horses to whinny.

"Do you know the way to the kitchen?"

"Yes… why?"

"I don't feel like facing Marian or the others right now."

Thankfully Wulf didn't ask any questions, but seemed to give a knowing smile. He about turned and led me back to the entrance we had come out of.

"Just take this hall and you'll see another hallway to your right. Take that and go on straight. It will take you straight to the kitchen. I need to get my things to my room so I'll leave you to your venture. What do you want me to say if I see the others?"

"Just say you never saw me."

We shared a laughed and we headed our separate ways, him down the hall he had originally came and up the stairs I had come down. I went down the hall after closing the door to find the passageway. It seemed a little odd that I hadn't seen it before, but I had been running after and concentrating solely on Wulf. I turned into the passageway to find this one was shorter than the last. I could already see a doorway ahead of me with light filtering out through the bottom crack. Arriving at the door, I pushed the wood open to be welcomed by the fresh scents in the air.

I heard the clanking of the pots and made my way in deeper to see several people at work behind the fires and boiling pots which really looked like cauldrons. None of the times that I stopped by Medda's restaurant or when I worked at the chalet in Aspen, did I ever see the going on inside the kitchen. I only saw the aftermath of the mess.

"Move or be burned."

I stepped back and against the door to have a tall person rush by me with a pot of water.

"Need any help?"

"Stick more wood on the spit. The king wants roasted pig for the midday meal and if that fire goes out, it'll be my head."

I grabbed a couple of logs from the wood pile and put them down in the spit, the fire crackling up, flames licking the sweating skin of the pig rotating on the spear. I stepped back as the man added a few more ingredients to the water before resting back. He wiped his hands off on the already grungy apron and looked to me.

"David's the name and who might you be?"

"The name's Dodger."

"Ah, so I finally meet the alleged Dodger. Word has spread through the castle of your being. I must say, I was shocked to hear that you were a woman."

With the introductions done, David led me to some overturned crates and offered me some fresh baked bread.

"Yes well, I've shocked a lot of people since I arrived. It has been either with my attitude, looks or with my fighting ability."

"Ah, the famous 'right punch'. We heard about that when Master Will came down for breakfast this morning. Proof was shown with the blackness around his eye. How did you give it to him?"

"Well he believed that I had been silenced with the kiss he gave me and well, he guessed wrong." David smiled.

"A woman who speaks her mind with her fist. I would say that is highly uncommon, but when Lady Maria, Maids Jade, Leighanne and Sarah are in the castle, then one has to beware and aware."

A faint ringing could be heard throughout the kitchen and David jumped up from his crate causing it to topple over onto the floor. Bending down he set it back in its place.

"I had better get everything ready and you had best head to the dining hall."

"Would you mind if I stayed here for now? I'd like to eat alone."

"I must warn you then. Master Will should be showing up soon. The only meal he doesn't eat in here is supper. Both the morning and midday meals are spent with us since it is much faster for him."

"Thanks. I'll just grab another piece of bread and be on my way. I'll come back after the meal is finished. Save a little something for me please."

The man nodded and went back about his cooking tasks as I grabbed a piece of bread and slipped back out the door. At the intersection, I turned back towards the stables, figuring that no one would be around and I'd be able to spend some more time with the horses. I wanted to give Stinger a brush down and an extra carrot that I had left behind as a treat. Hopefully by the time I finished there, the meal should be over and I'd be able to get some leftovers. Arriving at the stable door, I started to open it when I heard a familiar voice speak.

"So Dodger has been here?"

"Yes m'lord. She came with young Wulf and stayed awhile with the horses. I've never seen Stinger and Fire go to a stranger as quickly as they have to her."

"Do you know which way they went?"

"I saw young Wulf head into the castle by way of the gate, but the miss I do not know. I think she may have ventured out into the market."

"Thank you Matthew. You've been very helpful."

"You're welcome Master Will."

I heard the jingles of some coin and listened for footsteps in case they were to come towards the door. They never came. As I was about to push the door open more, the wood opened completely. Unfortunately for me I had been to be half leaning against and fell forward, landing in the dirt.

"Are you alright?"

I spat out the dirt that had gotten into my mouth and looked up to he person. There before me was Will, the person that I had been trying to avoid all morning.

"Just the person I was looking for."

I brushed the dirt off of my clothing, wishing that those were not the words that had come out of his mouth.

"Why were you looking for me?"

"Well after last night, I wasn't sure about how you felt. I looked for you in your room and in the dining hall, but you weren't in either of the places."

"Obviously."

He gave me a scowl for being a smart-aleck and I just grinned back at him before moving to Stinger, running my hand over her coat. Behind me I could hear him muttering something about a pain in the you know where.

"Hey girl..."

I stroked the mares back and with my other hand, massaged her ear. The horse gave a soft whinny and I knew that I had found her favorite spot to be rubbed. As I made circular motions on Stinger's ear, I hadn't realized that Will had stopped muttering until I felt his hands wrap around my waist. I controlled everything in my power not to twist and try to punch.

'_He's not trying to hurt you.'_ I said to myself. _'Just relax. You already hit him once.'_

Usually I find that my waist was a sensitive spot and avoided having anyone put their hands there. I bit my bottom lip, staring straight at the horse's side as his arms encircled around my waist even more until he had a firm lock. My breathing got a little bit faster as I felt my instinct muscles tighten up, wanting to fight back. What Will did next though, took me by surprise. He hoisted me up into the air and put me on Stinger's bare back. I grabbed onto her mane and gulped as I looked down at Will to see a small, mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"I was thinking that maybe you'd want more of a tour of the market place. You fell asleep during most of the trip through and likely didn't have much of one earlier with Wulf. I'll put the leading rope on Stinger and show you around. The view up on her back will be better than down here on the ground."

With that said Will went and took a rope, attaching it to Stinger's head gear. My mind started to whiz about with the thought of being on the horse and having absolutely no control. The feeling was familiar, reminding me of the days I was forced to have someone lead my horse around the riding ring. I didn't want that feeling again so I pulled my leg from Stinger's side and hopped down from the horse before Will could lead her out of the stables. A disappointed look graced Will's face and oddly enough I felt a pang of guilt.

"This has nothing to do with you. I just don't like having no control over situations I'm in. When I was younger, I was forced to do things and be paraded around like a prized animal. I swore to myself that I wouldn't let that happen again."

Will's scowl of disappointment softened a little but I still felt uneasy and had this need to write. I started to move for the door but turned around quickly and leaned up to Will on my tip toes. Whispering I said,

"There's the little light into my dark room, past the slightly opened door that you've been looking for."

I smiled against his cheek and turned about, heading back down the way I had originally came.

_Disclaimer Note:_

I know, I know. Update sooner. Sorry, but the block came then got busy with a lot of other things. But here is the chapter and I'll try to get the next one up soon too. Here's a shout out of thanks to those who have stuck by.

Darkpetal02, JnrCplScarlett, MORWEN12, Kendra, boogabooga(who has stuck by from the beginning), xoxdarkrebelxox, LoneGunGirl88, sugerplumfairy, catnap713, HiddenTiger13, Lily, Alison, JikoHitasura, galadvende, Robyn, Ruby, Sherwood Girl, Maxride, lulu bell, byrdgirl.

Thanks to all of them and to future readers. Remember, I do not own any of the Robin Hood characters, Newsie characters. I do own those you don't recognize.


	13. Its My Party and I Don't Want to Be Here

**Chapter Thirteen**

As I awoke, I could feel the rays of sunlight beating down on my face from the window. Pushing myself up onto my elbows I looked about and then remembered what day it was… my birthday and the day of the damn party. Kicking the covers aside, I climbed out of the bed and made my way over to the water bowl, washing away the sleep in my eyes. The last day caused the bags I knew would be under my eyes since the stress of avoiding the women, Will and everyone else really took its toll.

I crossed over to the bed and sat down again by the pillow, pulling my writing book out from. I scanned the last few pages and remembered all the little visits I had from those who actually did dare to come to my room and seek me out. My first visitor had been Robin as soon as he and the others had arrived. I had watched from my window as they came up into the courtyard and could hear everyone saying hello as he came down the hall. Apparently Marian had told him that my birth date fell on the same day as Will's. First he wished me an early birthday and then requested a dance with me after the dinner. I gave him a mumbled answer and luckily at that point Wulf came to my room to find out where I was hiding. In his arms was his younger brother and trailing behind him were his siblings.

It seemed that Marian had told everyone she could that my own birthday was coming up but also that I was hiding out in my room because Fanny had sent Wulf with the kids to my room to keep them out of the parents hair. I hadn't minded that really for then it gave me a reason to stay inside my room. For the afternoon the kids, Wulf and I played different games, stacking blocks and hide and seek… though that didn't work out well since the room wasn't that big enough.

Supper came around quick enough and Fanny along with John came to pick up all the children and myself for the meal. I declined and asked them if they would ask someone to bring food up to my room. At first Elizabeth pleaded with me to come and join them, but I told the little one that I was feeling a little under the weather and that another time I would join her. Ten minutes later a servant arrived with some food for me and it surprised at how famished I was. I ate everything quickly and sat on my bed writing in my journal until Wulf came back up.

We sat talking about his life at the camp and how things had gotten different once Nottingham was overthrown and Robin took up his rightful duty of the land. He recapped Robin and Marian's wedding for me, remembering more detail than I thought possible since the even was just over a year. After an hour or so, a servant come to my quarters and told Wulf that John wanted him in bed since today would be 'big' festivities. We said our goodbyes and parted.

Taking my notebook, I hid the papers up on the dresser so that no one would think to look up there. There was one thing as I got ready for 'hell on earth' as I had always described my birthday and that was the dream I had the night before. From what I could remember there was a battle happening. It looked like it was within a forest but there wasn't any sound to it. I remembered watching colors of blue and red flash before my eyes and I did see someone fall but before I could really see who it was, I woke.

Pulling my shoes on, I heard someone walking down the hallway and cracked it open to see a servant carrying a hot tray.

"Excuse me, but what time is it?"

"Ah, Lady Dodger… it is but dinner time. You slept the morning away. Here is your lunch that I'm sure you are quite hungry for." I smiled a little and took the tray from her, watching her flounce back down the hall. Moving back into my room, I grabbed the bread rolls and fruit and slipped down the opposite direction towards the stables. Lucky for me there was no one around and so my passage was made easier. I could hear Stinger whinny as I moved towards the stall and smiled, holding out the piece of fruit.

"Sorry I wasn't here this morning… I slept in later than I thought." I patted Stinger's nose and grabbed a brush, running the bristles through the fine coat and gave the horse another piece of fruit before making way to the kitchen. Smells emitted from the doorway as I neared and they reminded me of how hungry I was.

Pushing the door open I stepped into a frenzy of activity, even worse than the day I arrived. I bit into the bread roll and found David working over one of the cauldrons. I wound my way through the other kitchen staff and finally stopped before him.

"Hey there… man that smells good." David looked up, a little surprised to see me.

"Why good morning, or should we say afternoon. Happy…" I covered his mouth with my free hand, shaking my head.

"No mention of this day okay? Its bad enough I have to go through all of this when I don't want to. And before you ask why, it's too long of a story to tell. Now… tell me what are we having for supper that smells so good?" I leaned forward to take a peak but was stopped by David's laughter and hand on my shoulder.

"Since you won't explain, neither shall I. You'll just have to wait till tonight to taste the meal for yourself." I pouted and laughed, grabbing a few more pieces of bread before heading back up to my room. The main hall was out of the question since I did not want to deal with everyone sooner than later. Entering my room, I could still smell my lunch as it cooled off to the side. Wandering over, I saw that there were pieces of pork and another piece of bread under the cloth napkin… from what I was assuming was a napkin. I carried the tray to the bed and sat, picking at the meat, finding that everything fell off the bone quite easily.

Even the bread that was hidden tasted good without any butter or margarine. It was warm and smooth and getting an idea, I made up a sandwich with the leftovers, finishing up everything on the plate, licking my lips full from the small meal.

"Ah Dodger, you are awake." Looking up, I saw that Marian stood at the doorway, everything about her looking warm and inviting. "I came by earlier to talk and you were fast asleep. Now that you're awake, I was wondering if we could talk." I shrugged and nodded, clearing a spot for her on the bed, moving the tray over to the table by the bed. Marian moved over, her skirts swishing across the floor as she gracefully sat down. In my mind, I thought of how my mother would really love this woman to be her daughter… but then I remembered how she was a little prone to fight and smiled a little.

"What did you want to talk about?" She took one of the pillows from the neatly made bed and started playing with the edge.

"About the party," I cringed. "Why exactly do you not want to participate? The music, the food, the conversation with fellow guests can be quite enjoyable."

"I've had bad experiences involving my birthday my whole life…being forced to do and wear things that were not my choice." I watched as Marian cringed and the last few words that dripped with a little hate.

"But everyone goes through that, that shouldn't mean you should give up and not have fun." I stopped myself from rolling my eyes and stood up, walking over to the armoire and leaned against it.

"But 19 years of having no choice in anything? No… everyone does not go through that. They usually are able to choose what clothing they want to wear. Besides, the only way I have usually had fun on my birthday was doing things with my friends that were of my choice." I paused for a few minutes. "I'll tell you now though; I will be apt to stick to a corner the entire night. Dancing is not my thing since I never learned to." I fibbed, having taken years of it thanks to Kitten.

A look of exasperation came over Marian's face and soon an uncomfortable silence filled the room. I stood across from her, waiting for either her to leave or say something. When neither happened, I spoke. "Was there anything else you wanted to talk to me about? I was going to rest before…um, later." A spark of life hit Marian's face and eyes.

"Oh yes, I also came here to talk about the arrangements of the party. Dinner will be at half past the hour of seven where we will eat and then dance. Since me, my cousins and also some of the ladies from camp need to get ready, we were wondering if you would join us in the baths. In an adjoining room will be our dresses and where we get our hair fixed. The gardener has supplied flowers for everyone that suits the dress. We could help you with yours since you have protested before."

I looked at Marian, not sure of what to do. Meeting up with her and the others would mean that I would definitely have to go. There would be no hiding out within this room, no barring the door from others to keep them from dragging me to the torture I felt all this was. I looked to the door and sized the wood up. I fully knew that if I barred chairs against the panels, then they wouldn't be able to get in. I turned my attention back to Marian and saw the pleading look within her eyes.

"Oh alright, I will. Where is this place you were talking about?" A large smile flew across her face.

"The room is down in the East hall. I'll send a servant to come and show you the way. I heard from Leighanne how you got a little lost." I gave a small smile at the memory and watched as Marian stood and went for the door, the pillow neatly in place. The wood creaked open and she paused looking to me. "Do try and have some fun tonight. You may surprise yourself." With those words said, she disappeared into the hall taking the door with her. Pushing myself away from the armoire, I went over to the door and opened it a crack to see if there was anyone about. Luckily enough there was no one around. I closed the door completely and turned the lock. I could feel an oncoming headache and knew that it was a good thing I told Marian I was planning on resting.

Taking few steps over to the bed, I lowered my body down to the softness and welcomed the oncoming sleep. Resting my head in my hands, I looked towards the desk and soon felt my eyelids drift close. While I did love the rest that came, the dream on the other hand wasn't welcomed. It was very similar to the one I had that night only this time I could hear the sounds: swords clanging against one another, the whiz of arrows flying about the air and then thuds of them connecting with their target. I could also smell smoke and it filled my nose as though I was really there.

I watched as everything was exactly the same in the dream, even the blurred colors red and blue. I saw someone get hit this time and I wanted to move closer to see who the form was but I couldn't stay asleep any longer since someone was shaking me awake. Opening my eyes, I saw Will standing over me with a worried look across those chocolate brown eyes of his. I stared for a few seconds, getting lost in the dark depths but then it clicked that it was Will… in my room… after I had locked the giant door. Bolting up in the bed, I didn't get too far with my head colliding with his.

"Ouch!" I fell back on the sheets and started rubbing the injured area. Will also fell back onto the bed except he was down at the opposite end. Moving up onto my elbows I looked to him, watching as he rubbed the spot where we collided.

"Why were you shaking me?"

"I could hear you screaming from down the hall since I was coming back to my room. I came to see what was wrong… good thing I picked the lock. Is everything alright?" I nodded my slightly throbbing head and sat up more crossing my legs.

"Just had a nightmare, sorry to have scared you. What time is it anyways?" To answer my question, the courtyard bell started tolling, ringing off five chimes.

"I guess that answered your question. Why were you wondering?" Sliding my legs over the edge, I tested my feet on the floor, making sure that had my balance. I fingered my hair, pushing it behind my ear before I eased myself onto my feet to find there was no damage done.

"I'm supposed to meet up with the other ladies a few hours before…"Just as I finished a servant walked into the room.

"Lady Marian wishes for you to join her now M'lady." Curtsying to Will the servant about turned and started down the hall. Knowing full well that I would likely get lost if I didn't move, I gave him a small wave goodbye and made a dash out of the room and kept the servant in sight.

Following the servant down to the East Hall, I soon recognized some of the pictures and nearly bumped into the servant as she stood still by a door. I could hear laughter coming from inside the room and the servant nodded her head. Grasping the handle firmly, I pushed the wood and eased the door open. A blast of steam hit me directly in the face and I waved it aside to get a clearer view of the room. There were four large washtubs filled to the brims with bubbles. I could catch glimpses of some heads topped with long hair.

Marian, Jade, Leighanne and Sarah were all soaking and looked to be having a rather good time. Along the walls were screens which I guessed were turned away so that they could talk amongst one another. Large towels rested on small tables beside each tub, waiting to be wrapped around the bodies to help keep warm. I stood there watching and didn't realize that I was being stared at until a laugh came.

"Dodger… glad you could make it." Jade called out. "Your outfit and everything is in the adjoining room with all of ours. There has been a bath set up for you behind that screen. Climb in and then use the pole to move it aside and we can all talk about tonight." I looked at the women and gave a weak nod and headed over behind the screen. The bath was filled with bubbles and I could see the steam rise up into the air. On the side table was a large towel that looked as though once wrapped, I'd look like a giant pastry.

I removed my shirt and everything and pulling my hair back with a piece of thread placed beside the towel, I eased myself into the delicious water. The water was hot, but not enough to be scalding and uncomfortable. Settling back against the wall of the tub, I eyed the pole and decided to keep the divider up between them and myself. The complete relaxation feeling ran through my whole body as I closed my eyes, letting the water sooth away any worries and stress that I had. The one worry that I had had been the whether or not someone would wish me a happy birthday and so far all those that I had seen hadn't. Taking the washcloth that hung over the side of the tub, I rubbed down my arms and legs and realized that no one that I had met in the future Sherwood, except for my Aunt Medda, knew that my birthday was coming up.

"I'll have to tell Pebbles, Elf and Mike when I get back." I mumbled to myself as I washed.

"Dodger…will you be joining us?" I snapped out of the small trance.

"Uh, no… I'm just going to wash up and change. That way you won't have to wait for me." I heard some murmurs on the other side of the screen, but rather than staying there any longer in the lukewarm water, I finished scrubbing and quickly got out. I wrapped the towel about my body and found that I had to wind the material about twice before I could secure it. Grabbing my clothes, I made my way to the adjoining room, which luckily had been behind my screen so that I wouldn't have to pass by the others.

Inside the room, all of the dresses were laid out on chairs with dressing screens nearby. I made my way over to mine and setting my clothes down on a small table, I quickly dried off, put my under things on and struggled to get the dress on. As I tried, I could hear the others pad their ways into the room and soon more laughter came and my mind drifted back to high school in Aspen with the popular girls in gym class.

Rather than slipping into that memory, I focused on getting the dress on. In ways the material fitted my body better than it had when we had originally found the dress. 'They likely had it altered.' I mumbled softly trying to do up the strings in the back. Unfortunately the material and my arms wouldn't allow that to happen.

"Dodger, would you please hurry. We'd like to do your hair first since ours takes longer." Holding the edges together, I peaked my head around the corner to see Sarah and Leighanne was already working on their own hair and Jade and Marian were patiently waiting for me.

"I would…except I can't get the dress done up…" I mumbled and soon had Jade rushing to me, turning me swiftly towards the wall and grabbed the strings. Before I could even object, she yanked hard on them, pulling the material around my chest in and my own chest up to show cleavage that I never thought I'd see- at least not like this.

"There…now come on." She grabbed my hand and brought me around, sitting me down in a chair in front of Marian. Grunting, I felt the brush run through my hair and closed my eyes to stop from witnessing the murder on my hair. After about 25mins the pulling and prodding stopped along with movements on my face. Someone had put something on my cheeks and lips and the stuff tasted a little like jelly.

"Is it safe to look?" No one answered me and I took that as a yes. Slowly, I opened one eye and then another to see Leighanne and Sarah all dressed in front of me and the other two working on their own hair. "Alright… where is a mirror. I want to see what you guys did to me." Standing as fast as I could, I made my way over to the closest mirror and saw someone other than myself. I look like I had some pollen rubbed on my cheeks to high lighten them. My lips had a red shine to them and looked like a jelly. My hair looked like a pile of swirls and curls and a few strands came down around my face almost framing the shape. "Are we sure this is me?"

The girls laughed and turned, going about their own business. Some were finishing up their own hair while others were dabbing the same stuff that was on my face onto their own. My hand went up to my throat and everything felt very bare. Biting my lip, I looked around and noticed a piece of red ribbon that nearly matched the dress color. Swishing over to it, I picked it up and tied the smooth piece around my neck in a choker type of manner. 'Closest thing to a shirt collar.' I thought to myself as the girls finished up.

One by one the girls finished and soon all of us headed out towards the main hall. Marian led the way with her cousins and Sarah behind and me bringing up the rear. With each step I dreaded going inside the room and seeing everyone and having them see me. I felt as though I was walking to my execution. The door loomed ahead of us and several guards grabbed the handles and pulled the wood open. The insides were completely changed from what I had first seen. Banners and tapestries hung about everywhere in red and blue. Tables lined the walls with plates and goblets shining among the candle light. People stood about the tables and chairs. Some sat with children on their knees.

As I passed a tapestry behind the others, I caught sight that the red material matched my own. I looked up to see a small smile on Marian's face as she had turned around with the others, almost blocking my path. I halted and gave them a weird look. Before I could say anything though, a voice piped up behind me.

"Well look who showed up." I knew the voice was Will's and turning around I caught sight of the shock not only in his face, but also in Robin's who stood beside him. Their eyes moved from my head to my toe and my insides felt as though I were being sized for auction. Robin was dressed in a black vest and black pants with a slightly pale blue colored shirt that resembled Marian's. Will's clothing on the other hand stole my breath away and not in a good way. His vest and pants matched his half brothers, but his shirt's color matched mine in a deep red tone.

I stayed still like a deer in the woods and watched as his chocolate eyes surveyed every part of me and had yet to meet my green ones. An uneasy feeling set in my stomach and soon came over me fully. 'I have to get out of here.' I thought. The dress I was in, the stuff on my face and even the way my hair was done up… none of the items were me; they were my mom, the prep girls at home and even Marian. Grabbing the material in my hands, I lifted up the hems enough to make a quick exit. I pushed my way between Robin and Will and at first Robin grabbed for my arm, but my friends didn't call me Dodger for nothing.

Sidestepping his grasp very easily, I made my way out of the room and down the hall. The only place I wanted to be was inside my room and I nearly made it except for an arm wrapped its way around my waist.

"Let me go!" I struggled and moved my elbow enough to try and get to the person's stomach. They didn't say a word until I connected bone with soft tissue. The grasp they held loosened and then released and I quickly moved out of any other possible arms. I didn't however move without stepping down hard on the person's foot. Moving fully out of the way, I turned and saw that my assailant happened to be Will. "Will… just leave me alone. I don't belong in there. I don't belong in this dress." I threw down the material I still had grasped in my hand to the floor to make my statement.

"Yes you do. It's your birthday today too. By the way, happy…"

"Don't you dare finish that statement or else I will hurt you far worse. And besides, what's your point? I told everyone that I didn't want to partake in this whole party thing. This is not the most important thing on my 'To do list'. My birthday is not something I care to celebrate." Will glared at me as he rubbed his midsection.

"What are you going to do? Retreat into your room?"

"Yes" was the only answer I gave him. I could feel the tension rise up inside and could almost predict a fight coming on. A dress was not something that would make it easy for one.

"Listen… Richard, Robin and all the others will be disappointed if you don't show up to your own party. At least come back for a few hours and have some food. After that, you can go back to your room if you're not enjoying yourself." My cheeks warmed still from the tension and I watched him closely. I could still see his eyes taking in the whole appearance and watched as his lips and eyes perked slightly at the sight of cleavage. I heard a small grumble inside me and knew that my stomach was aching for some food.

"Alright… I'll come but only because of the food and only for a few hours." Will held out his arm as the smile grew on his face and his eyes finally decided to look to my face rather than my chest. I ignored the arm and pressed past him, hearing a soft wounded like sound. I stopped and waited. "Are you coming or not?" His footsteps echoed in the hall and as soon as he stood beside me, I slipped my arm through his and let him lead me away to my doom… or rather to the party.

A/N: Well… there it is. The long awaited chapter 13. I apologize profusely to those of you who have waited for this next installment. Writers block decided to do a heavy duty on me this time and even though I have the complete story written out in a book, transferring it to the computer is a completely different story. I always want to add more stuff to it. Anyways, the disclaimer time. If you do not recognize the characters such as Jade, Leighanne and Dodger… they are my own. Others belong to either Robin Hood Prince of Thieves or the Newsies. Hopefully now that work is eased up a little and all I have to worry about is moving down to the states for school, the next chapter will be up sooner rather than a lot of months down the line. Thank you again for patience. And please review… and please tell friends to review. Thanks


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